


Until the Stars Go Out

by Happy_Days19



Category: Fast and the Furious Series, Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-11-09 04:20:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 40,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20847425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happy_Days19/pseuds/Happy_Days19
Summary: In their line of work, Deckard Shaw and Luke Hobbs are put in many dangerous situations. They are learning to trust each other- can it turn into something more? This is a collection of connected one-shots each looking at a specific situation.





	1. Shaky Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Happy October! This story will be using all the prompts from Whumptober 2019 on Tumblr.
> 
> The title is from the song of the same name by James Morrison.

This wasn’t how Deckard had imagined his day going.

The day had started as a relatively typical Tuesday morning before Deckard received a call for a job. It didn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary, and he was packed and on his way before long. However, it quickly took a turn for the worse.

Deckard desperately tried to stop his hands from shaking as he gripped the handle of the knife that was currently embedded in his side. He knew there was a chance he would bleed out quickly once he removed the knife, but if he didn’t take it out before he started moving around, he knew that it could cause major damage.

Taking a deep breath, Deckard steeled his nerves. This would hurt, but he knew minimizing his movement was still important. As he pulled the knife out, he let out a groan but managed to keep still. After all, he had been through much worse. He gave himself three seconds before getting to his feet, determined to keep going. The man who managed to stab him was on the ground and wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon, but there were others who would be on his trail before long.

All he could do at this point was hope that Hobbs hadn’t run into as much trouble as he had. They had split up to cover more ground, and Deckard didn’t know how he was doing. The amount of people that had been present at the base was at least double the amount they had expected, and though they were able to infiltrate as planned, they hadn’t been quite as invisible as hoped.

Gathering his will, Deckard pressed onward, finally coming to the room that contained the information they were after. He scanned the room through a window, but didn’t see anyone inside. Making quick work of the lock, Deckard made his way over to the lone computer on the desk. He sat down, knowing it would take a while to copy all the information to his hard drive, and though he tried to will it away, there was a faint numbness spreading through his body.

He applied pressure to the wound in his side while he waited for the file transfer to complete. He could feel dampness soaking through the material onto his hands, which meant that it was even worse than he had thought. His eyes were getting so heavy, and it was an impossible task to keep them open. Though he knew it was a bad idea, he let his eyes flutter shut. He told himself that it was just for a second, but the next thing he knew, a large hand was gently shaking his shoulder.

“Shaw. Shit, Shaw! Can you hear me?”

“What do you want, ya big lug?” Deckard managed to slur out, eyes cracking open. He swore he heard a sigh of relief, but it was kind of hard to tell with the fuzziness that had taken over his brain.

“To finish the job, for one thing. Can you get up?” Hobbs asked, collecting the flash drive from the computer. If Deckard had been thinking clearly, he would have been slightly concerned by the lack of name-calling or other taunting, but he was just trying to hold on to consciousness.

“’Course I can. Who d’you think you’re talking to?” Deckard mumbled, but managed to clamber to his feet. It was sheer willpower that allowed him to move around. Well, that and the fact that he was not going to let Hobbs see him down.

Luckily, it seemed like Hobbs had managed to make it through without getting seriously injured. Better than that, it also seemed as though he had taken out the majority of the security team before finding Deckard. They only ran into a few isolated people on their journey out of the building, and Hobbs incapacitated them quickly, leaving Deckard to hobble along behind him.

It was a good thing Deckard was such a stubborn git, as he wasn’t about to give up and pass out, no matter how much his body wanted to give out. His hands were shaking terribly, and so his gun was not holding very steady. Every couple of feet, Deckard could feel Hobbs’ eyes on him.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

“Nah, I’m afraid your face would break the camera.”

Now that was more like it.

“’M surprised you even know how to use a camera,” Deckard grunted, stumbling slightly. He caught himself, but not before Luke’s steady hand found his shoulder.

“Maybe you should focus more on walking and less on talking,” Hobbs said, looking concernedly at Deckard, who simply rolled his eyes. He didn’t need anyone to be worried about him.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Deckard said tiredly, fighting against a sudden wave of blackness that threatened to close his eyes.

Deckard could feel Hobbs’ presence close to him the rest of the trip out of the building, but he managed to stay on his own two feet until they made it to safety. When they made it into the clear and into their escape vehicle, Deckard let out a sigh of relief. As much as he protested, Deckard was glad when Hobbs drove them straight to the person who would stitch Deckard right up and get him back to his “normal, cranky self,” as Hobbs put it. He knew that as much as they argued, Luke would make sure he got taken care of now that they had finished the job.


	2. Explosion

As much as Luke and many others liked to think that he was an immovable mountain of a man, the truth was that he was entirely human. Luke was a highly skilled agent, something that helped him protect himself and others in many situations. Unfortunately, all the training and skill in the world could not stop everything.

Luke was able to take down soldiers and block punches. He was a great dad and a loyal friend. His skills included being able to smash through doors and execute flashy driving maneuvers. However, he was not immune to the effects of standing in the same room as a bomb.

Blinking his eyes disconcertedly, Luke tried to figure out exactly what was going on. He remembered walking through the door of the room and then… not much. Looking around, he surmised that there had been some sort of explosion. There were chunks of rubble scattered across the room, and the ceiling looked damaged.

Rolling over on the dusty ground, Luke started moving all his limbs, trying to take stock of any damage. He was glad to feel that everything was mostly intact, or everything was intact up until he tried to wiggle the fingers on his right hand. Honestly, he was shocked that he hadn’t noticed the pain before he tried to move it, but as soon as he started wiggling his fingers, pain shot through his arm like a red-hot poker. That was not ideal, especially given that his right hand was his dominant hand.

As he sat up, he felt something on his face. Reaching up with his uninjured hand, Luke saw that it was blood. Luckily, he didn’t seem to be bleeding heavily, and he appeared to be mostly intact otherwise. He would definitely be feeling the aftereffects the next day, but he was fine for the moment. Other than the loud ringing in his ears and his injuries, he was doing okay.

All of the sudden, a thought rocketed to the forefront of his mind. Shaw. The two of them had been together when they had entered the room, and Luke had no idea what had happened to him when the explosion occurred.

Before he could start searching, Luke saw the beams of flashlights cut through the particles of dust hanging in the air from the explosion. Clearly, whoever had set the bomb was hoping that it would either take them out or incapacitate them enough for their security force to finish the job. Luckily, they had managed to get everything they needed to accomplish their mission before the bomb went off, so all they needed to do was get out safely.

Luke silently rolled behind a large chunk of debris, hoping to stay hidden until he could figure out exactly how many bad guys he would have to take out. He didn’t have to wait long before the action started. With a yell, Luke saw Shaw jump out from behind a pillar and start plowing through the security forces. Jumping in quickly, Luke started taking the guards down left and right, trying to be mindful of his injured arm.

“Decided it was time to join the party?” Shaw yelled over, kicking a guard into a pillar.

“Couldn’t let you have all the fun, now, could I?” Luke retorted, smashing an unfortunate guard over the head with a chunk of debris with his good hand.

Luckily for him, Luke was as skilled a fighter with one good arm as most people were with both of their arms. Unfortunately, he was still slightly disconcerted from the effects of the explosion, and one of the guards got a couple good punches in. Before he knew it, Luke was on the ground once more.

Yelling in pain when the man grabbed and twisted his injured arm, Luke swung his other arm at the man as his vision blanked from pain. His other arm was caught as well, and he was unable to break free. Before he could start to worry too much, the grip on his arms disappeared, and Shaw appeared in his line of sight.

“Need to take a breather, Hulk?”

“I just wanted to let him feel like he had a chance,” Luke replied, jumping up quickly. His arm was starting to swell rapidly, and it felt like it was on fire. It was probably something he needed to get looked at sooner than later, so he was hoping that they would be able to make it out before long.

The two of them worked efficiently to take out the remainder of the security, cutting through the forces like they were untrained and incompetent, even though they were some of the finest money could buy. When he stopped to think about it, Luke realized just how well he and Deckard worked together. They might butt heads more often than not, but they made a good team.

“Ready to get out of here?” Shaw asked when the last guard was on the ground, incapacitated.

“You don’t have to ask me twice, cupcake.”

Having gotten everything they needed, the two of them made a hasty exit. They had gotten out without being too worse for the wear, but Luke figured that they could both use a drink and a couple of stitches.

“Know anywhere to get a good drink around here?” Luke asked with a sly smile, glad they had successfully accomplished another mission.


	3. Delirium

Though she was busy with her own job, Hattie always made it a priority to join Deckard and Luke on any missions they asked her on. The three of them had managed to take down Brixton, and though they hadn’t yet managed to take down the whole of Eteon, they were working on it. They made a good team, and Hattie didn’t want to break it up.

That being said, Hattie tended to push herself a bit beyond what anyone should reasonably expect from oneself. For example, when Deckard called to ask her to join him and Luke on a trip to Italy to follow up on a lead they had found, she had agreed right away, completely ignoring the fact that she was sick.

Hattie bundled herself up in layers as she packed, shivering the whole time. There was no way she was going to let a little cold keep her from all of the fun. Earlier in the week, she had been involved in an unfortunate fight in a dirty river, and she had inhaled quite a bit of water in the struggle. She was sure the cold had stemmed from that.

When she finally met up with Deckard and Luke, the pair gave her a skeptical look.

“You sure you’re good to go?” Deckard asked, looking her up and down as she coughed.

“Are you doubting my ability?” Hattie replied, glaring at him.

“I’m sure he just meant to see how you are feeling,” Luke interjected, stepping between the Shaw siblings.

“You won’t be very helpful if we get caught because you’re hacking up a lung while we’re sneaking around,” Deckard said, pointing his finger accusingly at her.

“That won’t happen.”

“You’re right, it won’t. You’re staying right here and keeping watch.”

Hattie scoffed and looked to Luke for back-up, but he just shrugged. Hattie rolled her eyes, but Luke usually tried to stay out of the Shaw sibling arguments. Just as she was about to protest, she was hit by a wave of chills and another coughing fit.

“Fine. But you have to call me in if you need me.”

“Of course,” Luke agreed quickly before he and Deckard entered the facility.

The three of them weren’t expecting there to be many people at the facility. The had gotten word that it had been abandoned days earlier, so they were there to see if anything had been left behind to give them more information about what they were facing.

Hattie found a good place to stand sentry, still upset about being left behind. Really, Deckard’s concern had truth if anyone were to be there, but if it was as empty as they were thinking, it didn’t matter how loud she coughed. Even on her worst days, she could still far surpass many other agents.

She did feel rather miserable, and as more time passed, she started feeling even worse. There was a sharp pain in her chest every time she took a deep breath, and she couldn’t stop shaking. She hated to admit it, but Deckard was definitely right. She wouldn’t be a help to anyone at this point. All she could do was try to keep from drawing any attention to their presence.

Finding a large rock to lean up against, Hattie let herself close her eyes and rest for a bit. If she could only get a bit of strength back, she would be good to go. Before she knew it, she heard voices and felt a hand on her face.

“Hattie! Come on, open your eyes for us,” she heard Deckard say. She tried to pull away, but didn’t manage much more than her eyes fluttering open. “Jesus, she’s burning up.”

“’M fine,” she protested, but it came out as more of a whine than a powerful statement.

“Bollocks. Come on, then,” Deckard said, pulling her up to her feet. She swayed but managed to stumble along with them until they reached the car, coughing and trembling the whole way.

Once they reached their accommodations for the night, Deckard helped Hattie get settled in her room. She could feel the concern radiating from him, but she reassured him.

“Deck, I’ll be fine. Just a cold,” she shivered, eyes glazed over with fever.

“Right. Just get some sleep,” he said, leaving her.

When Hattie wakes up, she has no idea where she is or what is happening. Her chest hurts every time she takes a breath, she keeps coughing, and she can’t keep herself from shaking. It is hard for her to think, and she assumes the worst. Where has she been taken? Weirdly enough, she isn’t restrained and she is all alone.

Rolling out of bed, Hattie leaned heavily against the wall. As she tried to make her way to the door, she accidentally knocked a lamp off the bedside table, shattering it. She cursed under her breath, knowing that she must have just called attention to herself. Picking up one of the shards, Hattie crept towards the door. Before she had a chance to open it, it burst open, with two figures running into the room, guns drawn.

“Hattie!” one of them called.

The voice sounded like Deckard, and she shook her head, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Hattie, can you put that down?” came the other voice. That one sounded like Luke.

“What- what’s going on?” Hattie asked shakily, still gripping the lamp shard tightly and keeping her distance. She coughed violently and the lamp shard dug into her palm.

“It’s okay, you’re safe. Do you know where you are, Hattie?” Deckard asked, stepping closer and holstering his gun.

Hattie drew back further, shaking her head.

“We’re in a hotel in Italy after a job. You have a fever,” he replied, backing off a little.

“We’re safe?” Hattie repeated in a question.

“Yeah. No one’s here but us,” Deckard said. “Can you put that lamp piece down, now?”

Hattie looked down at her hand and dropped the shard. A small stream of blood trickled from where it had dug into her hand, but it wasn’t bad.

“Good,” Deckard said, slowly moving towards her. Luke was standing close to the door, looking like he didn’t want to intrude. “Think we busted the lock on this door, so let’s get you into a room with a working lock so you can get some rest.”

Luke nodded and disappeared, as if he had received some silent communication from Deckard. Hattie was still trying to figure out exactly what was happening, but she felt safe with her brother, so she let herself be led into his room.

As she settled into the new bed, Hattie caught Deckard’s arm.

“Stay?” she asked in a quiet voice.

Deckard nodded, settling into a chair in the corner as Hattie was pulled once more into a fevered sleep.


	4. Human Shield

Though he was more than proficient with a gun, Deckard preferred a straight up fist fight. There was just something about the feeling of his fist connecting with something solid that couldn’t be replicated. Plus, there was always the danger of friendly fire, and no one ever wanted to be responsible for something like that.

In his line of work, Deckard would have to say that most of his jobs called for a combination of his skills, which suited him just fine. He had to be prepared for anything and everything. For many years, he worked alone. He had been betrayed one too many times to trust others in his line of work, and it was just easier to do the work himself. That all changed when he started to work with Luke Hobbs.

Even after the first few missions they worked on together, Deckard was still quite cautious about the big guy, but after Hobbs had proven himself over and over again, he had started to trust him as a work partner. Deckard also didn’t mind working with Hattie, but she had her own job that he tried not to interrupt too much. He and Hobbs seemed to be pushed to work together from many different directions, but he didn’t complain about that any longer.

On this particular mission, Deckard and Hobbs had been sent to infiltrate and take down the inner circle of a particularly dangerous and nasty arms dealer. They had managed to pretend that they were new recruits, gathering important intelligence and forming a plan on how best to take the operation down. Everything had gone exactly to plan, and it was finally time to eradicate the dangerous group.

Knowing that the majority of the group spent the evenings in the makeshift canteen, Deckard and Hobbs set a trap. They managed to incapacitate everyone in the canteen with a well-placed blast. Knowing that the blast would give their presence away, they positioned themselves to best take out the ones who ran to check on the canteen. Deckard took the one side, and Hobbs took the other, a dangerous combination of skill and might.

“I bet I’ll take out double the number of dummies you will,” Hobbs taunted.

“No way,” Deckard growled, feeling the fire in his stomach grow.

As the minions started rushing in, Hobbs and Deckard got themselves in position. They took out the first wave quickly, none of them posing a real threat. Deckard figured that these ones must have been the more unskilled lackeys, not real close to the dealer.

“See, I told you I’d get more,” Hobbs gloated.

“Some of those were mine!’

“You’re being a sore loser, sunshine.”

“Am not.”

“Are too!”

“Just get ready. There are plenty more,” Deckard said, starting to make his move towards the larger compound.

“And I’ll win there, too,” Hobbs chuckled, following closely.

“Wanker.”

Deckard crept through a side door, tossing a grenade in front of him before taking cover. When he heard the sound of the blast, he gave Hobbs the signal and rushed in. Making sure all of the visible threats were down, Deckard relieved them of their weapons. Hobbs had gone down the hallway first, and Deckard followed quickly after.

When they reached the door the intelligence said was the arms dealer’s, Hobbs kicked down the door, and Deckard rushed in. Before he could do anything, a fist came out of nowhere and knocked him down.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” came a deep voice, hauling Deckard up and holding him to stop him from escaping, a knife to his throat.

Deckard was dazed, his vision swimming. He blinked fiercely, trying to get his body back working. He struggled weakly against the man holding him, but it was more of an attempt to see just how stuck he was rather than an escape attempt.

“No, no, you aren’t going anywhere,” said the voice again, holding him tightly. “You’re my ticket out of here. He won’t shoot me if he’ll hit you.”

“Wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Deckard said, spitting blood out of his mouth.

During the entire confrontation, Hobbs had his gun out and trained on the arms dealer, but unfortunately, Deckard could see that the man was right. Hobbs didn’t have a clean shot at all, and as much as they bickered, he didn’t think Hobbs would just shoot him to get to the arms dealer.

“You’d be doing me a favor,” Hobbs chimed in, lowering his gun slightly.

Though his head was clearing up significantly, Deckard didn’t know the best way to approach the situation. He could feel the tip of the knife digging into his throat, and he would rather keep his blood inside his body. Bloodstains were a bugger to deal with, anyways.

“Move,” the arms dealer said, pulling Deckard along.

This was his chance and he knew it. Pretending to stumble, Deckard used his momentum to twist out of the man’s arms and safely out of reach of the knife. When the man pulled his gun out, Hobbs quickly put him down, making sure that his safety and the safety of his partner was assured.

“You good?” Hobbs asked, kicking the gun safely out of the reach of the arms dealer.

“Thanks,” Deckard said, nodding.

“Should we make one more pass? See if we missed anyone?”

“They’d have to be really dumb to stick around here after all the commotion,” Deckard said.

“You and I both know that some of these guys are a few fries short of a happy meal,” Hobbs replied, checking his gun.

“Takes one to know one, huh?” Deckard smirked, but he knew that that wasn’t true. Hobbs was very good at his job and he definitely knew what he was doing.

“Very funny,” Hobbs said, but he was holding back a smile. “Now, get your ass in gear so we can go.”


	5. Gunpoint

Luke knew his job was dangerous. He knew there was always a chance of him not returning home, of not returning home to Samantha. If he were to answer honestly about the hardest part of the job, that would be it. Of course, there were plenty of other difficult parts, but that was the worst.

He was lucky to always have a great team behind him, one who knew just how important it was for him to return home. Family was always a touchy subject in his line of work, but after working with Dom and his crew and the Shaw siblings, Luke was glad to know that there were others who shared his feelings.

Shaw in particular had surprised him. He knew the lengths the man had gone through to avenge his brother, but then he had also put so much at risk to save Dom’s son. Watching him with Hattie had also been eye-opening, especially when Hattie had wanted to go with option one, to make sure that the world would be safe. Shaw had refused to entertain the idea, instead making sure that they won without putting his sister’s life in more jeopardy than it already had been.

All Luke, and anyone else for that matter, could do was try to make sure he didn’t put himself in a bad position. Making smart choices was so important, and it could be the difference between life and death. Sometimes, though, it was hard to know which decision was the right one. Sometimes, a decision was made that felt right but was later proved to be wrong.

Maybe it was a simple miscalculation, or maybe it was a change in the wind, but whatever it was, something went wrong on one of Luke’s missions. It was supposed to be a quick in-and-out, track down a bad guy sort of mission, but it didn’t end up being as quick and easy as anyone had hoped.

Getting in was easy enough. Looking back, it may have been a little too easy, but at the time, Luke hadn’t noticed. Completely focused on the job, he located the target and removed the information as instructed. When he tried to leave as stealthily as he entered, he ran into a few problems.

“Halt!”

Luke swore under his breath. He had been hoping to be able to sneak out instead of fighting his way out. It wasn’t that he minded a good old-fashioned fight every once in a while, but it was usually a lot faster to get out undetected. Sam had a soccer game that evening that he was trying to get to. Since he was coach, it was his responsibility to be there, and he also didn’t want to disappoint Sam.

“Hands in the air.”

“Okay, okay,” Luke said, turning around slowly and putting his hands in the air. He wanted to see exactly who he was facing to know just how big a chance he had of missing the game.

To his dismay, he was faced with six armed guards, guns pointing at him. That definitely wasn’t what he wanted to see, and while he was more than capable of taking down the armed guards, he was at a significant disadvantage when all four of them were armed and one of them took his gun away. Luke stared at them for a few seconds. None of them asked for the information he took back, and while it was possible they didn’t know that he had it, he thought it unlikely.

“How’s about I get out of your hair now? Less paperwork for you, less headache for me,” Luke joked, trying to read his captors.

“Not possible. Get on your knees.”

“Seems a little quick, don’t you think? Hey, if this is about me being in a restricted area…”

“We know why you are here, Luke Hobbs,” a guard interrupted. “We know you came for information, but our boss doesn’t care about that.”

“Well, if he doesn’t care, maybe I should just get out of here,” Luke said, moving to stand up. He knew he was in a perilous situation and that he needed to get out as soon as he could.

Before he was able to get up, one of the guards stepped forward and pistol whipped him across the face, knocking him back down completely. Blood dripped from the fresh gash across his forehead. All six guards suddenly pointed their guns at him threateningly.

“He doesn’t care about the information because you’ll be dead before you can get it to anyone. His business with you is a little more personal, you could say. We’ve been instructed to eliminate you.”

That was definitely not good. If he was eliminated, he would miss more than just the night’s soccer game. He had no tricks up his sleeve, no back-up that could get there soon enough, no plan. He was good, but there was no way he could survive four gunshots to the head at close range.

“Who exactly is your boss?” Luke was at more of a disadvantage not knowing who wanted him dead.

“Someone you really pissed off, apparently,” came an entirely unexpected voice from the side before four of the guards collapsed after two blurs of motion came at them. The other two looked like the were torn between firing at Luke and protecting themselves, but before they could do anything, Luke launched himself at them, and they were on the ground, too.

“See what kind of trouble he gets in without us? Big baby can’t even handle a simple mission.”

“Maybe he just had an off night, Deck.”

“Hey!” Luke protested, but he was so happy to see Hattie and Deckard. “Now I won’t know who they were working for.”

“That can wait. You really think they were gonna tell you?” Shaw asked gruffly.

“Well, maybe. How did you even know I was here?”

“We were in the neighborhood. And Sam called. She was afraid you were going to miss her game, so I told her we’d stop by and check on you,” Hattie said, poking at the skin around the gash on Luke’s forehead.

“Of course. Well, maybe we should get going. I don’t want to miss her game, after all. So, are you both coming?” Luke asked, batting Hattie’s hand away.

“She made both of us promise,” Hattie laughed.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Deckard said, but though most would think he was being sarcastic, Luke believed him.

“Good, then let’s go,” Luke said, leading the Shaws out.


	6. Dragged Away

Though she was grateful that her government didn’t want to kill her and that they had allowed her back at her job after the whole Snowflake incident, she didn’t really like working with the other MI6 agents as much as she liked working with Deckard and Luke. Every once in a while, she got lucky and was able to work with Luke on work missions.

It wasn’t that all the other agents were bad, per se, it was just that she didn’t trust them quite as much. After the organization had turned against her and believed that she had gone rogue so easily, it was hard to believe that they wouldn’t do something like that again.

On this particular mission, Hattie had been paired up with Luke. Unfortunately, it was one of those jobs where the governments had “no knowledge” of the plan, which meant that the least amount of people possible knew what they were doing. This meant that they had no official back-up, but that also meant that they were able to bring Deckard into the team, as well.

They were tasked with saving the kidnapped daughter of a British diplomat that had been working in America. She had been gone thirty-six hours, and her parents had finally received a ransom demand. The ransom had been some extremely classified information, so Hattie and Luke had been sent in to try to retrieve the girl without having to give any information to the kidnappers.

Hattie, Luke, and Deckard knew that they would have to be extremely careful, as the three of them against an unknown number of kidnappers was probably quite imbalanced, especially with the lack of resources they were given. It was a good thing they worked well together and that they had been in desperate situations together in the past. Planning was crucial, and they knew they would have to act quickly to ensure the safety of the girl.

After casing the warehouse that the girl was being held in, they determined that it would be best for Deckard and Hattie to go into the warehouse. In a semi-Mick Jagger grift, Deckard would try to create a diversion while Hattie worked on getting the girl out to safety. Luke would act as back-up in case the plan went South.

The plan started out perfectly. Deckard created a wonderful diversion, drawing the attention of all but a few of the kidnappers. Hattie was able to stealthily find the girl and get her out of the warehouse after taking care of the kidnappers who had stayed behind to guard her. Unfortunately, when it came time for Deckard to re-join them, Hattie could still hear gunfire and shouting coming from the warehouse.

“Stay here,” she called over her shoulder, though she wasn’t entirely sure if she was speaking to Luke or the girl. All she knew was that she needed to go help her brother so they could all get out of there and finish the job.

“Hattie!” she heard Luke call, but she ignored him.

She snuck in the door, studying the situation inside the warehouse. Deckard was pinned behind some shipping containers, and though he looked uninjured, he was stuck in a bad position. The kidnappers had multiple angles covered, but none of them had noticed Hattie.

Sneaking closer to her brother, Hattie stuck her head out from around the corner of a shipping crate and fired at two of the kidnappers. She heard shouting and two thuds but didn’t stick around long enough to see if her shots had hit their marks. As she slipped around the side of another container, she took out another kidnapper. By her calculation, this meant that there were only three left.

Though she had almost made it to Deckard, Hattie stopped in her tracks. One of the three remaining kidnappers was standing right in front of her, gun raised.

“You think you’re a clever one, don’t you?” the woman spoke.

“Cleverer than you,” Hattie responded, knowing that at least if she was taken down, Luke should be able to get the girl to safety.

Suddenly, she was hit from behind and felt herself crumple. As her senses returned to her, she saw the woman who had stopped her pointing her gun at Deckard while a man dragged her away from the scene. She started struggling, but it was useless with the tight grip the man had on her.

“Hey!” Deckard called after her.

He abruptly kicked the gun out of the woman’s hands and incapacitating her before turning on the third and last kidnapper, smashing him in the face. Hattie slammed her head into the face of the man dragging her, causing him to loosen his grip on her. She whirled around, kicking him in the midsection and then the head, causing him to drop.

“That went well, I thought,” Hattie said to Deckard once he was close enough.

“I had it handled, Hat. Don’t do that again.”

“You most certainly did not have that handled. Now, let’s get going. I want to get that girl back to her family.”

The duo secured the kidnappers and made their way back to Luke and the girl. It appeared that the two of them were doing well, and he even had the girl smiling, despite the circumstances.

“This big lug giving you any trouble?” Deckard asked the girl, but it was clear that he was joking.

“No, he’s just fine, thank you,” she responded quietly.

“Are you hurt?” Hattie asked, looking the girl over. She looked okay, but better to ask and be certain.

“No. Thank you for rescuing me,” she said, looking at the three of them.

“Good. Let’s get you back to your parents,” Luke said, ushering the girl into the car. The job hadn’t gone perfectly, but they had gotten it done.


	7. Isolation

Deckard’s life hadn’t followed the pattern of most people’s lives, but he wouldn’t have chosen a cookie cutter life, either. He could have gone without being framed as a traitor and being cut out of his family’s life, but he lived for the action and adrenaline of his lifestyle. Maybe his lifestyle inhibited him from forming meaningful relationships with others, but he got along quite well with his life.

After the whole thing with Eteon and the Snowflake, Deckard was very glad to have gotten his sister back in his life. She had always been a very special person in his life, and it had hurt like hell when she had cut him out, especially since he hadn’t done what he was accused of. They had been very close as children, and he had always felt a bond with her. He had tried to protect Owen to the best of his ability, but Owen had been difficult, never really heeding his advice. Hattie had learned from him and looked up to him.

He had also gained a trusted partner in Hobbs, even if he wouldn’t come out and admit that. They had worked well together and had managed to save the world again. It took a lot for Deckard to trust people, especially in his line of work, but Hobbs had made his way onto that trusted list. They bickered like children, but Deckard enjoyed their banter. Hobbs was someone he felt he could go toe-to-toe with, and he loved that.

In many ways, Deckard felt isolated in his life. Sure, he had his share of lovers and acquaintances, but he had a deep connection with very few people. He didn’t let anyone get too close, not anymore. He had learned his lesson.

There was no better place to reflect on his stance on isolation than locked alone in a cell. It had just supposed to be a meet up to exchange information, but Deckard had been tricked and taken. They wanted more information than he had agreed to share, and when he refused to give more, they had put him in the cell until he “changed his mind”. He was curious to see what happened when he didn’t change his mind. Though it wasn’t the most ideal situation to be in, Deckard wasn’t overly concerned. He was still hoping that the information exchange would go through and that he wouldn’t have to give much more than he had been originally planning on giving. He was pretty good at throwing useless information out there. Making the useless seem valuable was one of his skills, after all.

It was only after a few days left completely alone in the cell with no food, water, or hint that civilization was still living that Deckard started to get a little worried. How long were they planning on leaving him down there? Though he had tried, he hadn’t managed to make any progress on getting out of the cell.

“Hey!” he called out, banging against the bars.

Unfortunately, no one came to investigate. Had they forgotten about him? Was he doomed to spend the rest of his miserable life in that cramped cell? No, that wouldn’t do. He would have to find a way out before it got to that point. That was one of the problems of working on his own. No back-up meant no help in these stickier situations, but he had managed quite well on his own for long enough.

As he started examining the cell for any flaws that could aid in his escape, he heard some loud crashes coming from the hallway at the top of the stairs from where he was being held. That would have been the perfect time to make his hasty exit, but unfortunately, he was still quite stuck. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait for long before an opportunity presented itself.

“Shaw!”

“Down here!” Deckard called.

After all his grumbling about not needing a partner, who had come to help him out? None other than Luke Hobbs. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t happy to hear Hobbs’ voice, even if it irked him that he needed help to get out of a situation.

It didn’t take long for Hobbs to make his way down to Deckard’s cell and make quick work of the door.

“How’d you know I was here?” Deckard asked, slipping quickly out the door.

“I was tracking some chatter and heard your name come up. Figured I’d come join the party. Frankly, I’m hurt you didn’t invite me to the party,” Hobbs said, starting to make his way up the stairs.

“Didn’t think it would be this much fun,” Deckard muttered, following closely behind him. “Don’t have a gun or something, do ya?”

“I took care of all the trouble upstairs already,” Hobbs replied, but he reached behind him and handed Deckard something. “It’s yours. Found it with your other shit.”

“What do you want, an award?” Deckard grumbled, but he was very happy to have it back.

“No, but it wouldn’t hurt to be a little more careful,” Hobbs said, turning to face him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Deckard replied. He kept his face neutral, but it did make him feel something inside to know that he had someone other than Hattie and his mother who cared about what happened to him.

Maybe he had more back-up in Hobbs than he had thought. He definitely trusted the man, especially when he had come to help him when he was stuck with no reward for himself. Luke Hobbs was a mystery, and Deckard found himself wanting to figure out the other man.


	8. Stab Wound

Of all the things Luke didn’t like about his job, one of the worst things was the feeling of helplessness that came with certain situations. Being the person he was, Luke was a fixer. He liked to fix things, and when he was put in a position where he couldn’t do anything, he felt uncomfortable and helpless. Sometimes he felt helpless not being able to help others, but sometimes it was when he couldn’t help himself.

It was fortunate that Luke didn’t find himself in those situations too often, but when he did, it was not a pleasant feeling. Saving people was one of the reasons Luke had the job he did, and when he was put in a position where he couldn’t help, he was devastated. It was easier when he was the one who was in the bad position.

One particular night, Luke was out at a bar, simply getting a drink. No guns, no bad guys, no danger. It was nice to take a night every once in a while to relax and unwind, knowing that he didn’t have any special responsibilities. Sam was at a sleepover at one of her friend’s houses, and he had given them specific instructions that they were not, under any circumstances, to watch Game of Thrones.

Of course, nothing was as simple as taking a night to relax in Luke Hobbs’ world. He was sipping on his second drink of the night, taking things nice and slow, watching the football game on one of the bar TV’s. It was a lively game, and the excitement in the air was palpable, but before long, the energy in the bar shifted. 

The shattering of a glass and shouting pulled Luke’s attention away from the game. Two burly men were up on their feet, shouting at each other. The poor bartender had tried to get in the middle of them to diffuse the situation, but he had been pushed back rather harshly, landing on the floor.

“Hey, hey, what’s the problem here?” Luke said, sauntering up to the arguing men.

“None of your damn business, buddy,” one of them said, not even bothering to turn to face Luke before taking a swing at the other man.

Ducking, the other man came around and caught the first man with a harsh right hook. Trying to jump in before anyone got seriously injured, Luke stepped between the men. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen the glint of metal as one of the men pulled a knife on the other.

As he felt the knife slide feeling satisfied as he felt his fist make solid contact with a face. As the scuffle drew more attention, he heard screams and the sound of running feet from other corners of the bar. Before he did anything else, Luke made sure the men weren’t going to hurt each other or anyone else, easily taking the knife. The bartender, having recovered from earlier, came over to provide support.

“Oh, that don’t look good,” he said, gesturing to the spreading bloodstain on Luke’s shirt.

“It’s fine,” Luke said, brushing off the concern, but he knew that the stab wound could end up being bad if he didn’t get it taken care of sooner than later.

“I called an ambulance,” the bartender continued.

Even if Luke said he was fine, he was very glad that help was on the way. Stab wounds could be very bad, and they were nothing to brush off. Medical care was an important piece of surviving, even if the wound didn’t seem deep. If the knife hit any organs or if the wound was infected, he wouldn’t survive without medical help. Luke slid down the side of the bar so that he was sitting on the ground, leaning up against the side. He asked the bartender for a clean towel, pressing on the wound to try to stem the bleeding before the medics arrived.

Pulling out his cell phone with his free hand, Luke scrolled through his contacts, pausing before he pressed call on one particular person. Maybe he should have called Sam, but he didn’t want to scare her. No, for some reason he couldn’t completely explain, he had called someone quite different.

“What do you want?” came the growling voice on the other side of the line.

This was a mistake. Luke didn’t even know what time zone he was calling into. What time was it in London, anyway?

“Hobbs?” the voice asked when Luke didn’t respond to the first question.

“Where are you?” Luke asked, hoping no desperation came through in his question.

“New York. Why?”

“This- this was a mistake. Sorry for bothering you,” Luke said, about to hang up the phone.

“Luke.”

That stopped him. When had Shaw ever called him Luke? It was always Hobbs or some weird nickname.

“Do you ever wonder when you’re going to die?” Luke cringed, wondering what on Earth had possessed him to make the call and ask him that. Honestly, he wasn’t that concerned about his current situation, but it did make him think.

“What’s happened?” Shaw asked, cutting right to the chase.

“Oh, nothing much. Just a small wound. I just… I wonder when it won’t be.”

“Do you have back-up?”

“The ambulance is on the way. I’m just fine.”

“What about Sam?”

“She’s at a friend’s house. So, do you?”

“What, think about death?” 

There was a pause, and Luke wondered if Shaw had hung up on him.

“I suppose it’s inevitable in our line of work. All we can do is hope we did something good first.”

That surprised Luke, though not as much as he once would have thought. Shaw was definitely a morally gray character, but he did seem to work for the greater good, to save the world when necessary. Before Luke was able to string together a cohesive response, he heard the sirens.

“Just hang in there,” Shaw’s voice came through the phone, and Luke figured he had heard the sirens.

“Thank you,” he said, finally hanging up the phone. He had never expected to have a conversation like that with Deckard Shaw of all people. As the medics rushed in, Luke let himself focus on the situation at hand, only thinking back to the conversation once he was settled in the hospital later that night. Deckard Shaw never ceased to surprise him, and he didn’t see that changing anytime soon.


	9. Shackled

For being as skilled as Deckard was, it was almost laughable the amount of times he ended up in sticky situations. Some of the situations were more or less planned, while others were certainly not. In any case, Deckard always made it out of the situations, usually without too much damage.

If nothing else, Deckard was certainly resourceful. He was able to read the situation and use it to his advantage on most occasions, something which made him difficult to deal with. However, there were times when people had prepared for him and his skills, rendering his resourcefulness rather unhelpful. If the people going against him were told to shut him up and shut him down, his skills were of less use. Containing Deckard could be difficult, but when done properly, it frustrated him to no end.

In fact, as Deckard pulled on the shackles restraining his wrists, he thought about how frustrating the situation was. He had always been a shadow, in and out without getting noticed. He had to admit that he had been caught in more situations lately, but his skills were still tip top. Luckily, his ankles had been left free of the annoying chains, but he was still quite stuck. He wished for the lock pick he had gifted Hattie. She always carried with her, but then again, it probably wouldn’t do him much good, as he had been thoroughly searched before being shackled.

It hadn’t been his finest moment when he had gotten caught, but he had been trying to avoid detection during a party, which had backfired on him. One of the other guests had apparently recognized him and brought his presence to the attention of the security team. Rather unfortunate, but at least he hadn’t been injured during the whole thing. It appeared that they wanted him out of the way, but he didn’t know if that was because he was a nuisance or if they were afraid he would get in the way of something that was going to be happening in the future. Whatever the case, he was stuck for the moment.

Deckard was in a room with three other people. One of them was staring diligently at him, making sure he didn’t try anything, while the other two were fixated on computer monitors in the corner. Not much of a security team, but he knew there were more people spread throughout the party. If he was able to make it past these three people, it would be a lot easier to escape than if all the guards had been in the same location.

Biding his time until the guard watching him was distracted, Deckard studied the other guards and the screen. He squinted at the screen and scowled. Really? If he didn’t know any better, he would say that he was being followed.

“What’re you looking at?” the guard watching him asked, turning slightly to look at the screen.

Taking his chance, Deckard pulled his shackles around the neck of the guard, kicking out at the two others when they got close enough. Using his training, Deckard took all three of the men out quickly, even with his wrists shackled. He rummaged around the pockets of the guards, freeing himself once he found the key to his restraints.

Even though he had been identified and previously caught, Deckard knew he couldn’t leave yet. If what he saw on the cameras was true, he needed to get back into the party. He straightened his collar before disabling the video feeds. Even if the others came back to the room, at least this would give him a chance of not being as easily caught again.

As he slipped back into the party, Deckard grabbed a drink to try to blend in better. He looked around to find the reason he had come back, stifling a grin when he found his target. Looking around to ensure none of the security team had realized that he had escaped and re-infiltrated the party, Deckard made his way over to the edge of the room.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” he said, not making eye contact with the man.

“I could say the same. What are you doing here?” Hobbs said, lifting his eyebrow.

“Oh, you know. Just wanted to check out the party.”

“Find anything interesting?”

“Some of the guests are intriguing, but I’d say it’s time for us to go,” Deckard said, motioning to the exit.

“So soon? No dance first?”

“Let’s just say if I made the honored guest list, you must be on it too.”

“Good point. I have what I need, anyway.”

“Shall we?”

Deckard and Hobbs made their way to the door, and it seemed like it was just in time. As they were exiting, Deckard took one last glance behind them. Unfortunately, they had attracted the attention of the security again, and this time, they looked pissed.

“Hobbs.”

“I see ‘em.”

Sliding off to the side, Deckard and Hobbs shared a look. As the guards burst out of the doors behind them, both men jumped into the fight. Deckard took a few hard hits to the head, but they managed to take out all of the guards between the two of them.

“You good, princess?” Hobbs asked, hauling Deckard to his feet.

“Just fine. Let’s get out of here before their friends show up,” Deckard said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“My place or yours?” Hobbs asked, chuckling.

“Whatever suits your fancy, big guy,” Deckard said, leading the way out of the building.

Maybe he wasn’t the best at working with others, but this was one time he didn’t mind sharing his information. Working with Hobbs was something he had come to almost enjoy. If he was going to have to work with others, there were much worse people to work with, and he knew that he and Hobbs would get the job done.


	10. Unconscious

Hattie heard someone moaning, but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Actually, she had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that she was suddenly hit by a wave of agony. She squeezed her eyes tight, but that did absolutely nothing. A broken sob ripped its way from her mouth without her permission.

“Hattie!”

She felt hands on her body, but she didn’t have the energy to pull away. All she could do was wince when the hands touched a particularly painful part of her body. Luckily, the person touching her didn’t seem like they were trying to hurt her in any way.

“Come on, Hats, open your eyes. That’s a good girl.”

Her ears were ringing, but she could still hear her brother’s voice. Hattie groaned as she cracked her eyes open, trying to focus on Deckard’s face hovering in her line of vision. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“Why would you do something so idiotic, Hat?”

“Is she okay?” Luke’s voice cut through the fog in her brain. “What happened?”

“Pushed me out of the way and took the brunt of that blast.”

A noise of pain came from Hattie when Deckard pressed on her abdomen. Her vision was already swimming, and she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to stay awake. When Deckard mentioned the bomb, memories resurfaced in Hattie’s mind. She remembered noticing the bomb right before it went off and not having time to do anything except make sure Deckard was as out of the way as possible.

“She’s in bad shape,” Deckard said, looking over at Hobbs. “We’ve got to get her out of here.”

Judging by the concerned looks on both of their faces, she was worse off than she had thought, which was not good, since it took a lot to rattle her brother and Hobbs. As she tried to sit up, a sharp pain ran through her torso and leg.

“Don’t even think about it,” Luke said, pushing her back down gently.

Unfortunately, her movement seemed to jar something in her undoubtedly broken leg, and she felt blood start to pool under her left leg.

“Shit!” Deckard swore loudly, fashioning a tourniquet out of his belt and fastening it tightly around Hattie’s leg. She screamed when it was applied, barely holding on to consciousness.

“Deck,” she gritted out, squeezing his hand.

“Hey, hey, we’re gonna get you out of here,” he said, stroking a lock of sweaty hair off her forehead.

“I found an unblocked exit, but the building is pretty unstable” Luke said, returning to her line of vision. “I called for medical, too.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here. Hattie, this is going to hurt,” Deckard said before carefully gathering her in his arms.

‘Going to hurt’ was a massive understatement in Hattie’s opinion. When Deckard moved her, even with how gentle he was being, her vision went completely black. Once she finally came back to her senses, they were almost out of the building. Just as they could see the exit, the building started to collapse, a cascade of rocks blocking the way out.

“Fuck!” Deckard said, coming to an abrupt halt. Hattie gritted her teeth as the motion jarred her.

It looked like the building had been massively damaged by the blast. As the debris rained down, Hattie felt completely helpless. She was injured to the point where she was having to be carried by Deckard and she was still having to fight to stay conscious. If she had to bet on it, she would say that she had some internal injuries in addition to the external ones. She was grateful that she was with Luke and Deckard, who were a very experienced duo. If anyone could get them out of this mess, it would be them.

“The back door,” Luke said, quickly making his way before more of the building could collapse.

Luckily, the back door was unblocked, and the three of them were able to escape before any rubble crashed down on them. As they emerged from the building, Hattie could hear the sounds of the emergency sirens. Her eyes were getting heavier, and it was getting nearly impossible to keep them open, a fact that Deckard picked up on.

“Hey, keep those eyes open. Talk to me, Hats.”

“What, you trying to make up for lost time?”

Deckard sighed heavily, which succeeded in making Hattie crack her eyes open again. Maybe she had gone too far with that comment, especially when she had been the one to cut Deckard out of her life. He set her down cautiously, but the pain still flared up terribly again.

“Hattie. You know there are a lot of things I regret.”

“Me too,” she murmured.

“You know how much I care for you, yeah?”

That was something. Even in their line of work, Deckard and Hattie didn’t always share moments like this. Neither of them had been raised in a way that made them particularly good with using their words to share emotions.

“Yeah, yeah I do. Do you know how much I care for you?” Hattie asked, words starting to get quieter.

She managed to keep her eyes trained on him and was surprised to see the amount of emotion in his eyes. Before he could answer her, the ambulance pulled up. Luke, who Hattie had almost forgotten about, came back over and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. It was a comforting gesture, and Hattie weakly raised her hand to rest it on his, giving him a slight smile.

Knowing that she was in safe hands with her brother and Luke next to her and the ambulance right there, Hattie let her eyes slip closed, hoping that the pain would be less the next time she woke.


	11. Stitches

Deckard hissed as he pressed a wad of gauze on the deep slash down his arm. Blood quickly soaked through the gauze, and he knew it was something that was going to take more medical attention than he had hoped. He swore quietly under his breath, knowing that they were a long way away from anywhere he could go to get stitched up, and while he was adept at stitching himself up, it would be hard to do so with just his non-dominant hand.

When the door opened, Deckard quickly shifted into a defensive position, ready to take out any danger, but it was just Hobbs who lumbered into the room. He relaxed quickly, but didn’t say anything to Hobbs. It wasn’t his favorite thing to be at a disadvantage, and the slash on his arm put him at a slight disadvantage, no matter how skilled he was.

“What’s wrong with you, princess?” Hobbs asked, moving closer to him.

“Nothing,” Deckard huffed, pulling up on the gauze to check how much the bleeding had slowed. It hadn’t.

“Did that happen when we were out earlier? You said you were fine!”

“I am fine. It just so happens I have a tiny scratch on my arm.”

“So your vision is as bad as your sense of humor,” Hobbs said, letting out a dry chuckle.

“Made you laugh, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, yeah, you did. Let me see.”

“Don’t need you babysitting me,” Deckard huffed, pulling his arm away when Hobbs tried to reach for it.

Luke frowned, and Deckard almost felt bad when he saw a flash of hurt in his eyes. It wasn’t really Hobbs that was the problem. Trust didn’t exactly come easily to Deckard, especially in his line of work, after everything that he had seen. Looking at his arm wasn’t the problem, either. It was that he was cautious enough to know that trusting people for small things led to wanting to trust them for bigger things, which was where the problem was. Trust.

In this case, though, could it really hurt? He and Hobbs had been through enough that he trusted him with these type of work things. And after all, it would be a bother to try to stitch his arm up by himself. Wordlessly, he extended his arm to Hobbs, giving him the go ahead to check out the damage.

“How did this happen?” Hobbs asked, gently looking under the gauze, scrunching up his nose as he assessed the wound.

“Some bastard’s knife got in my way.”

“I see.”

Though it would have made sense to feel pain when Hobbs put pressure on the slice, taking off the gauze and replacing it with fresh gauze, all Deckard felt was his stomach flip unexpectedly. Luke was being surprisingly gentle, and it seemed like he really cared, even though it wasn’t a dangerous wound.

That was what Deckard had been worried about. He didn’t want to feel anything other than what they needed for a strictly work relationship. Get in, get the job done, get out. No spending time together outside of work, no unnecessary emotions. This feeling was outside of that, and therefore dangerous. Just as he was about to pull his arm away and tell Hobbs to bugger off, Hobbs met his eyes, like he knew what Deckard was thinking.

“Looks like it needs stitches. I may not be a doctor, but I can definitely get you stitched up nice and quick,” Hobbs said, with a gentle pressure on Deckard’s wrist, like he was trying to stop him from pulling away.

Deckard quickly looked away from Hobbs, disguising his lack of eye contact as if he was looking for the med kit. He reached for it with his good arm, not bothering to pull out of Hobbs’ grasp. If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he knew how dangerous it was, but he didn’t have the strength to fight it. As much as his mind said no, his heart wanted it.

“Just do it quick,” he said, still not meeting Hobbs’ gaze.

He could feel Hobbs studying him for a moment before Hobbs rummaged through the med kit, digging out the supplies he needed to stitch up the arm. Deckard swallowed hard and rested his head against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. Why did he always do this? He had been able to shut down his heart for so long, but it was starting to act up again. He was starting to feel things he didn’t want to feel, and it made him twitchy.

Luckily, Hobbs seemed to know he wasn’t in the mood for conversation. He worked efficiently to sew up the large gash. Deckard had learned from an early age to disguise his feelings, to slip into a mask, and he engaged the mask as the needle poked his arm. Hobbs looked up throughout the process like he wanted to make sure Deckard was doing okay, but Deckard betrayed no emotion. Finally, Hobbs finished up, putting a clean bandage over the stitches.

“All done,” he said cheerfully. “Try not to run into anymore knives, okay?”

Hobbs gave the bandage a small tap, smiling at Deckard. Deckard couldn’t find it in himself to smile back, instead just pulling his arm away. He slipped on the jacket that had been on the back of his chair, busying himself with the collar.

“Thanks,” he said, hoping that Hobbs didn’t catch the almost breathless way it came out of his mouth.

To his credit, if he did, he didn’t say anything, instead giving Deckard another softer smile. It drove Deckard out of his mind, but Hobbs always seemed to know just how much he could push at any given time. Deckard slipped out of the room, needing space to clear his mind. He didn’t know why he was feeling this way, but he needed to stop it before it became a real problem.


	12. Don't Move

Luke looked around, surveying the landscape around him. The sky was a brilliant orange pink, though it was nowhere close to the beauty of the Samoan sunsets. A few clouds dotted the sky, but they just reflected the intense color of the sunset. Grey rocks covered the side of the sheer cliff as far down as he could see. The blackness at the bottom just served as a reminder as to how far down the bottom was and a bleak contrast to the beauty of the sky.

As he held on to the cliffside, Luke shook his head slightly, knowing just how dangerous it would be to lose his grip and plunge to the bottom. He had climbed up from the very bottom, needing an escape route. Of course, this had been Plan F, but as always, he had to be prepared for anything.

Scaling the cliff carefully, Luke kept an eye on the landing he was climbing towards. He wasn’t exactly the smallest person, and though he was almost all muscle, that didn’t make a difference on the rocky edge of the cliff. More than once, he had put his foot down on a rock, only to find the rock fall away when he put any weight on it. He had to be careful to not plunge down to the bottom and to almost certain death.

There were a few small ledges that jutted out from the cliff, and while some of them were big enough to hold him, Luke was trying to get to a point where he could be retrieved by his backup. He had been able to get a message off and was hoping that someone would be there so he could get off of the cliff as soon as possible.

Looking up, Luke almost sighed in relief when he spotted a familiar figure leaning out of the helicopter that just flew into the area. He was so glad that he was so close to getting off the cliff and onto steady ground. Well, first the helicopter, then steady ground. Whatever the case, he could see his backup, which was always a good thing.

“Can you hurry it up a little?” Luke asked through his communication device as soon as the helicopter was closer.

“If you don’t want us to crash into you, then no, Twinkle Toes, we can’t hurry up,” Shaw’s voice came through.

Luke finally reached the landing he had been aiming for, pulling himself up carefully. He waited for the rope to be dropped from the helicopter so he could be pulled up to safety. As the rope was lowered down, Luke leaned forward slightly to grab the rope that was floating just out of reach. Just as he had almost managed to grab it with one hand, he felt the rock shift under him. The landing that had appeared so solid just moments before was suddenly a death trap.

“Don’t. Move,” Deckard’s voice came through the ear piece, sounding tense.

“Got that,” Luke replied, just as worried.

The rope was floating just out of reach, which meant that Luke had nothing keeping him safe. If he fell, he had nothing to keep him from crashing all the way to the bottom, which would definitely not be good. He could hear Shaw instructing the pilot to try to get closer, but unfortunately, the pilot was saying that he couldn’t safely get any closer. Knowing that he had to get to the rope to get to safety, Luke decided to ignore Shaw’s instruction.

Luke leaned forward carefully, trying to ignore the continued cracking and shifting of the ledge as he reached for the rope. Just before he managed to grasp the rope, the ledge gave a final crack. Luke felt the rock drop beneath his feet, and he gave one last push against it, launching himself toward the rope.

“No!” came the shocked shout from Deckard, but Luke didn’t have time to process that.

Though he wasn’t sure quite how he had managed it, Luke had somehow managed to grab the rope at the last second, but his momentum swung him out and quickly slammed him back into the cliff. He hadn’t managed to get a good grip on the rope before the impact, and the force of the impact made him lose any hold he had on the rope, falling down the cliff.

Somehow, beyond any luck he figured he had any luck having, Luke crashed into another ledge, barely managing to stop himself before rolling off the ledge and actually plunging to the bottom of the ravine.

“Luke! Luke, can you hear me?”

Though he was still conscious, Luke was extremely winded and his head felt fuzzy. He couldn’t pull himself together enough to come up with a coherent response. All he could do was lay there and gasp heavily as he felt something trickle down the side of his face. He could hear Shaw swearing and ordering the pilot of the chopper to fly lower, and this time, the pilot wasn’t arguing back. The thought floating through his head was that he would hate to be on Deckard’s bad side.

Luke must have blacked out briefly because the next thing he knew, Deckard had materialized next to him. He figured that he must have a worse head injury than he had thought, because there was no way Shaw could be there on the ledge. Realizing that Shaw was trying to talk to him, Luke blinked and tried to sit up. Before he got far, he was pushed down.

“What?” Luke said, confused by the whole situation.

“Woah there, big boy. Don’t want to mess up that pretty little head of yours any more than it already is.”

“You think my head is pretty?” Luke mumbled, still not sure exactly what was going on or what he was saying.

Shaw ignored him, working on strapping something on him. Before he knew it, Shaw had managed to strap him into some sort of harness board with his neck secured. Luke struggled around a bit, trying to get free but stopped as soon as Deckard came back into view.

“Just got to get you up to safety, okay? I’ll be up right behind you.”

Luke tried to nod but ended up giving a thumbs up because of the way his neck was secured. He didn’t like the idea of being separated from Deckard, but he really wasn’t in any position to argue. The next few minutes were a blur, and before he knew it, he and Shaw were situated in the helicopter.

“Thanks for getting me,” Luke slurred before closing his eyes to rest.

His head was killing him, and the other parts of his body weren’t doing much better. He felt a hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly in response. After a few minutes, he heard Deckard’s voice. He kept his eyes closed. Even with his head injury, he figured that Shaw had thought that he was asleep, and he was just too tired to figure out what he meant.

“Don’t do that again, you big lug. I thought you were gone. Don’t do that to me.”


	13. Adrenaline

Hobbs and Shaw were stuck. They were utterly and completely stuck, and it looked like there was no changing that for the foreseeable future. Deckard was already getting twitchy, even if Hobbs looked like he was a little more comfortable with the situation. Being trapped in a small space, especially being so close to Hobbs, was not what Deckard had wanted to do with his day.

“Isn’t there another way?” Deckard asked, annoyance shining through his voice.

“No, princess. Just suck it up and we’ll be there soon,” Hobbs responded with amusement.

“Soon? That’s what you said three hours ago!” Deckard huffed.

Hobbs laughed, finally tearing his eyes off of the never-ending traffic jam in front of their car. The pair had been in the car all day, and it was clear that Hobbs was much more accustomed to the LA-like traffic than Deckard.

“What, do you need to squeeze the lemon or something?”

“Squeeze the- no! I have better things to do with my day than sit here in a tin can with the Hulk.”

“Oh, just because this isn’t a sports car, it’s a tin can?”

“No, because it’s a fucking tin can.”

“It’s all the rental place had. Stop complaining.”

Deckard grunted. He refrained from commenting further, knowing that it wasn’t Hobbs’ fault. They needed to be low profile, and a fancy car definitely didn’t fit the bill. The car wasn’t ideal for anything other than transportation, but that was hopefully all they would need to use it for. He managed to stay silent for a while, but he was too wound up to stay completely quiet.

“What’s on your mind?” Hobbs asked, shooting a curious look at Deckard.

“None of your bloody business.”

“Woah, no need to snap. Just trying to be friendly.”

The truth was that there was a lot on his mind, but he wouldn’t, no couldn’t, ever tell Hobbs. He needed to distance himself from the man, knowing that he was starting to think and feel things that he shouldn’t. Trust between work partners was necessary and fine, but friendship was something else. Deckard had been through enough with his old team that he knew he couldn’t trust anyone with anything personal. Sometimes, it was hard enough for Deckard to let his own family in.

Unfortunately for Deckard, the quiet didn’t last long.

“So, I never got to thank you for helping me out on that cliff,” Hobbs said, staring intently at the traffic.

Dread started spreading through Deckard’s body, but it was still fine. If Hobbs just wanted to thank him, that was fine. If he was going to start talking about how Deckard had handled himself when Luke had fallen, that was less fine. And if he had heard what Deckard had said when he thought Hobbs was out, then they definitely had a problem.

“Don’t mention it,” Deckard said, hoping that would be the end of it.

Part of him wanted to tell Hobbs how scared he had been when the ledge had collapsed under him. He wanted to tell him how his stomach dropped even further than Hobbs had, and that he hadn’t properly started breathing again until Luke was safely in the helicopter. The other part of him was struggling to accept that he even felt like that. He couldn’t let himself feel like that.

“Really, man. Thank you. You’re the reason I’m here now.”

Deckard simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Hobbs was quiet for a long moment before continuing.

“I don’t know what I would do if the positions were reversed. It would be really hard to see you in that position. I thought… I thought I heard you say something about not doing that to you again, and I understand why.”

That was it. Adrenaline slammed Deckard’s system harder than if he was unarmed and alone in a field of highly trained mercenaries. His heart felt like it was about to pound right out of his chest, he started getting tunnel vision, and his hands started shaking slightly. He felt like a tightly coiled spring ready to snap.

“Don’t feel like training another partner, that’s all,” Deckard said, trying desperately to brush off any emotion.

Clenching his fists, Deckard stared resolutely out the window. He refused to meet Hobbs’ eyes, knowing that it would be even harder to hold himself together if he did. There was no end in sight to their torturous car ride, which was probably why Hobbs had picked that moment to talk about it. He knew Deckard would try to brush him off and wanted to make sure Deckard wouldn’t run away from the conversation.

Honestly, why did Hobbs care what he had said? Did he really mean that he would have had a hard time if Deckard had been in his position? There was no way Hobbs felt like Deckard was any more than a competent work partner, right? They weren’t even what Deckard would call friends. Even so, Hobbs had called him when he had been injured before. Deckard had wondered before but hadn’t let himself think too much about that phone call. Was it possible Luke felt something more?

Hobbs hummed in response, and Deckard knew that he wasn’t buying his bullshit answer.

“Glad you’re alright, mate,” he finally let himself say.

Luckily, Hobbs seemed to have had enough of torturing Deckard, as he didn’t press for anything else. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, creeping along with the traffic.

“I’m hungry,” Hobbs said, changing the subject after a short pause. Deckard let himself chuckle.

“What else is new?” Deckard said, slipping back into the easy banter.

The adrenaline in his system was finally receding. Even though Hobbs had noticed much more than he had ever hoped, the situation didn’t seem to be as bad as it could have been. Hobbs hadn’t accused Deckard of anything. Actually, he had almost seemed to be digging for something. All Deckard could do was breathe a sigh of relief and promise himself to be more cautious in the future.


	14. Tear-stained

Luke would like to say that he lived a fairly well-balanced life, especially given the unpredictable nature of his job. The one constant, the biggest and best part of his life, was his daughter Samantha. Sam was an absolute ray of sunshine that kept him grounded. With his job, it was easy to see all the negative parts of the world and the worst in people, but coming home to his daughter made him realize why he did it.

Because of his job, Luke was called away from home occasionally. He felt very lucky that Sam understood and that he had support from others to be able to make that happen. Saving the world and stopping the bad guys had become more than just a job to him. He viewed what he did as almost an obligation, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy kicking ass.

When he could, Luke always tried to set aside special time with Sam. Aside from going out to their diner every week, they also did something more exciting. Sam loved going kayaking, surfing, and rock climbing, so those activities were frequently chosen. It was a bit of a struggle for Luke to fit in most kayaks, and rock climbing had been a little less of his favorite since his fall, but he always made it work for Sam. This week, Sam had chosen surfing for the activity, so they would be going to the beach over the weekend.

Luke finished up some paperwork as he waited for Sam to be done with the school day. It was Friday, which meant they had plenty of time to surf over the weekend. As he looked at the clock, he started putting his things away. It was almost time for him to leave to pick up Sam.

The bell was just ringing as he pulled up to the school. He scanned the crowd of kids for Sam, frowning slightly when he didn’t see her. She was usually one of the first ones out, but maybe she just got held up talking to one of her friends or teachers. After the last couple stragglers exited the school, Luke had a bad feeling in his gut. He got out of the car and jogged into the building.

Scanning the hallways, Luke quickly made his way to Sam’s classroom. The classroom was already empty, so he jogged towards the office, trying to keep the panic from rising in his chest. Sam was never this late, and if something kept her, she always called him to let him know what was happening. Bursting into the office, Luke walked right up to the desk.

“I’m looking for my daughter, Samantha Hobbs.”

“Let me look, dear,” the older lady who worked at the desk said.

It didn’t take her long to look up the information, but Luke was about ready to jump over the desk, push her out of the way, and scour the computer system for any information himself.

“She wasn’t at school today. Looks like she was called in as absent this morning.”

Luke wanted to punch a wall. He had dropped her off at school that morning as usual, but somehow, she had never made it to her classes. Even worse, someone had called her in as absent, which could only mean one thing.

“Who called her in? What time?” Luke asked, all business.

“Hmm, looks like her father called it in at 8:10 this morning. Oh dear, didn’t you say you were her father?”

As much as Luke wanted to stay and yell at anyone and everyone who had let this happen, he knew that he needed to start looking for Sam right away. The perps already had almost eight hours of a head start. Luke ignored the desk lady calling after him to tell him that he really needed to stay put so the police could get involved. He was already walking away and on the phone with Locke, asking the man to track any incoming calls to Sam’s school at that particular time.

“What’s going on?” Locke asked, sounding uncharacteristically serious. It was almost though he could sense how tense Luke was through the phone, especially since Sam was involved.

“Sam’s missing. Let me know as soon as you have anything,” Luke said, hanging up and dialing another number quickly.

“Hobbs,” Shaw greeted.

“Sam’s been taken.”

If he was being completely honest, Luke was calling Shaw for more than one reason. The primary reason was that Luke needed the best of the best on his team, and as much as Luke gave him shit, Deckard Shaw was the best of the best. The other reason was that he wanted the inexplicable comfort he felt when talking to Shaw.

“Where are you? I’m in LA,” Shaw said after a very brief pause.

A small amount of relief flooded through Luke’s system. Deckard being in LA was an unexpected blessing. Having Deckard at his side made him feel much better about his chances of recovering Sam before anything could happen. Make no mistake, he was still very worried, but he felt much better with a partner he could trust.

Luke and Deckard made plans to meet up, knowing that they would need to be ready to go as soon as possible when they received any information about where Sam was being held. Luke hadn’t received any sort of ransom call yet, but he figured that it would be coming soon. If the kidnappers were smart, they would have used the time Sam was supposed to be in school to move her to a secure location far enough away that it wouldn’t be easy to get to. Just as he was thinking that, his phone rang.

“Luke Hobbs,” the disguised voice blared out.

“Who is this? Where is she?” Luke growled, putting as much anger as he could in his voice.

“You’ll get her back as long as you follow all of the instructions. First, don’t try to find us. We’ll come to you. Second, we need some files. Bring us a copy and then delete all other copies of the data. More details will follow.”

“Daddy?” a scared voice came through the phone.

“Hold on, sweetie. Daddy’s coming to get you,” Luke said, throat tightening. Whoever did this was so dead.

Before Luke had the chance to ask any more questions, the line went dead. Luke checked in with Locke on his way to rendezvous with Shaw.

“Tell me you have something,” Luke said.

“I got a location from a call in that time frame. I’m sending the details to your phone. You know, you’d think they want to be locked up, pissing you off.”

“They just called my cell. Can you trace that call too? They’re after some case files. I’m not sure which ones yet.”

“I’m on it,” Locke said.

He sounded like he was about to go on, but Luke interrupted, telling him that he needed to go. As much as Luke found Locke comical, he wasn’t in the mood, given the circumstances. Luke’s car screeched to a halt as he reached the location to pick up Shaw.

“What do you know?” Shaw asked as soon as he got in the car, wasting no time getting straight to business.

Shaw definitely had a soft spot for Sam, as much as he tried to protest that he didn’t have any soft spots at all. He frowned when Luke repeated what the kidnappers had told him, looking at the location Locke had sent over.

“How long do we have?” he asked.

“They didn’t say. They’re going to send me more information later.”

“This location isn’t far. Shall we pay them a visit?”

On the one hand, Luke was afraid that Sam wouldn’t be at that location, and then the kidnappers would know they had tried to get her and hurt her. On the other hand, they needed something from Luke, and pissing him off by hurting his daughter was not the way to go. If there was a chance Sam was at that location, he needed to try to save her.

“Let’s go get this sumbitch,” Luke said, looking over at Shaw and gunning the engine.

It didn’t take too long to get to the address with how fast Luke was driving. As soon as they pulled up, Luke and Shaw exited the car in tandem, weapons at the ready. They knew they would have to be fast to get through the building, especially if there were people watching the security cameras.

The building ended up being a one room warehouse. Luckily, there were plenty of crates to provide a hiding spot and cover, but they drew the attention of the couple of guards posted right inside the door. Shaw launched himself at the man on the right, and Luke took the one on the left. They managed to take out the guards before any sort of alarm was raised, which was crucial in maintaining the element of surprise.

Creeping along the large crates, Luke scanned the interior of the warehouse. There were a couple of people scattered throughout, but it looked like there was the most activity in the back corner. Luke silently got Shaw’s attention and motioned to the area. They snuck over to the area, and Luke sucked in a breath. Sam was tied to a chair. Her face was tear-stained, but she looked brave. She was staring defiantly at her captors, a strip of duct tape over her mouth.

“When do we call him again?” one of the kidnappers asked.

“In a while. I want him to think about his precious daughter in danger a little longer.”

Luke’s blood was boiling. How dare they? He met Deckard’s eyes and saw that he had a similar expression. They shared a look before splitting up, each taking out a few bad guys. Luke rushed over to Sam once he had taken care of the kidnappers surrounding her. Shaw split off and made quick work of the other kidnappers.

“Sam! Are you okay?” Luke asked, pulling off the duct tape, cutting off her bindings, and pulling her into a tight hug.

“Daddy!” she shouted, clinging to him.

Luke pressed his forehead against hers before pulling back to make sure she didn’t have any injuries. She looked shaken but physically unharmed. Sam fisted her hands in his shirt, not letting him get far. Luke wanted to get back up and pummel the guys who took her until they wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone ever again, but he knew was right where he needed to be. Besides, Shaw was working on taking care of the rest of the guys, and Luke knew he wouldn’t let the kidnappers off easy.

“Are you okay? What happened?” he repeated, thumb brushing a stray tear off her face.

“I’m okay. They didn’t do anything to hurt me. I was just going to the bathroom before my first class, and when I started walking back to class, they grabbed me when no one was around. I’m sorry, dad.”

“You have no reason to be sorry. I’m sorry this happened. Are you ready to get out of here?”

Sam nodded and grabbed her dad’s hand. Shaw had finished with all the bad guys and reunited with Sam and Luke at the door.

“You okay, love?” Deckard asked, crouching down to Sam’s level.

“Yeah. Thanks for coming to help rescue me,” Sam said.

“No problem. Let’s get out of here,” he said, leading the three of them out of the building.

There would be a lot more to dig through and a lot of problems to solve in the morning, but for the moment, Luke was more than happy to make sure Sam felt safe and happy. That was all that mattered.


	15. Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: This chapter mentions past child abuse.

It was supposed to be an uncomplicated mission, but the intel they had received was bad. One thing had led to another, and Deckard was stuck in a car with Hobbs during yet another car chase. There were three cars chasing them, and as much as Deckard wished he was driving, he was stuck in the passenger seat.

“Are you trying to kill us?” Deckard asked, sliding as Hobbs took another sharp turn.

“Buckle up, Short Stack,” Hobbs said, chuckling.

“Ha, ha,” Deckard said dryly, thinking back to the car chase in London when he had said something similar to Luke.

They sped down a side street, barely avoiding the street vendors. Taking a sharp turn, they flew down an alley. Deckard hoped that they would be able to lose the cars chasing them, but it didn’t seem like that was the case. Instead, the car behind them started shooting at them. Deckard ducked as bullets shattered the back windshield. The car zoomed back onto a main road, but the bullets didn’t stop. Hobbs banked a sharp turn behind a truck, cheering slightly when one of the cars following them slammed into a concrete barrier.

“Would’ve lost them all by now,” Deckard complained.

“You aren’t that much of a better driver,” Hobbs grumbled, swinging the car to the right.

Just before the cars chasing them caught up, Hobbs threw the car in reverse, running into the front bumper of one of the cars. That motion caused it to crash into the other car, putting both cars out of commission.

Hobbs put the car into drive again and floored it. Unfortunately, some of the men in the cars hadn’t been injured, and they climbed out of the car and started shooting at the car Deckard and Hobbs were in. Deckard quickly shot back, taking out the shooters, but just as the men went down, one of their shots hit its mark. The back tire of the car blew out, causing the car to fishtail, hit a curb and flip over.

“You good?” Deckard asked Hobbs after taking a few seconds to clear his head.

“Yeah, you?”

“Fine. We need to get out of here.”

“Right.”

Deckard couldn’t get his seatbelt undone, so he ended up cutting it to get out. As he fell from the seat, he got caught on a jagged piece of the car, slicing his back. He hissed but focused his energy on getting the rest of the way out of the car. By the time he had gotten out, Hobbs was standing on the outside. Hobbs had a couple of cuts on his face and arms, but didn’t look too worse for the wear.

“Didn’t take long for you to Hulk smash your way out, huh?” Deckard asked.

“Took you long enough. What were you doing, taking a nap?” Hobbs retorted.

Knowing they couldn’t stay there long, Deckard looked around. It wouldn’t take them long to get to the place they were staying, and as long as they stayed out of sight, it should be safe enough for them to make their way over there to regroup. They had been lucky that no one had been around and that no one had come to see what the racket had been about yet.

“Hey, you sure you’re okay?” Luke asked, gently grabbing the back of Deckard’s shirt. Deckard felt the blood dripping down his back and knew that was what Hobbs was talking about.

“’M fine,” Deckard said, though he could feel that the cut was pretty sizeable.

Hobbs didn’t look convinced but let the issue slide. The pair made their way down the street quickly, managing to avoid the people who had come to investigate the commotion. They looked a little rough as they trudged down the next street, but no one had looked twice at them, so it couldn’t have been that bad.

As they finally reached their destination, Deckard ran his hand down his back until he felt the beginning of the gash. He didn’t want to admit it, but the injury was probably going to need stitching, which was something he wouldn’t be able to do. That would mean that he had to let Hobbs know just how bad it was. He had been trying to downplay his injury, but this would expose him. He didn’t think it was horrible, but he hated asking for help. Maybe it really wasn’t that bad. He could live with it until their job was all done.

“Hey, Shaw?” Hobbs’ voice broke through Deckard’s musings.

“What?”

“I think I should take a look at your back. Just to make sure.”

“You just want to get my clothes off,” Deckard joked, trying to lighten the situation and distract Hobbs.

“That doesn’t hurt,” Hobbs chuckled, and Deckard almost choked.

Was that… flirting? It couldn’t be. They were work partners, nothing more. Okay, they had almost started to become friends, but that was it. Deckard could hardly believe that they had made it past the ‘enemies’ stage, but here they were, working well together. Trying to stop himself from overanalyzing Hobbs’ words, Deckard wordlessly stripped off his shirt, barely managing to hide the wince pulling on the gash caused.

In Deckard’s line of work, scars were an inevitability. He couldn’t think of a single agent or soldier that didn’t have some sort of scar, physical or otherwise. It just so happened that Deckard had more than his fair share. His back was a map of some of the misadventures he had faced over the years, starting fairly early in his life.

The first scars his back had received were from his father. His father was always cruel, but he had been in a particularly foul mood one day and had caught Deckard and Hattie out later than they were supposed to be out. He had lashed his belt even harder than usual, letting the metal end of the belt cut into Deckard’s back. Deckard had begged to take Hattie’s punishment too, and while his father gave him more lashes because of it, he had gone after Hattie as well. Those scars had mostly faded, but they were still visible.

The next scar was from a gunshot wound he had received while in the military. The bullet had gone through the front and had exited through his back, leaving a scar. He had other scars, but they were a story for another day. For now, he was focused on Luke’s hands on his back. It was almost surprising that hands that large could be so gentle.

“This looks pretty bad,” Hobbs said, running his finger beside the wound. Deckard couldn’t completely suppress the shiver that ran through his body at the action.

“Really? You think I’m pretty? I was going for handsome,” Deckard said, trying desperately to distract Luke from noticing anything.

“Well, princesses are pretty, and since you’re a princess…” Hobbs trailed off, running his finger down the other side of the gash.

Was he trying to get Deckard to shiver again? Well, he wouldn’t get it. This time, Deckard was prepared, not letting his external reaction match his internal reaction. Internally, he was quivering just as much, but there was no way he would let Hobbs know that, especially when Luke had that answer to his question.

“Shut up. Can you fix it or not?” Deckard asked, stopping any potential flirting before it got too far.

He couldn’t let anything happen, even if his heart was starting to want something to happen. His head still told him that it would be a horrible idea, especially with his past experiences, but his heart was a different story. Plus, Hattie had started bugging him about him and Luke, and it was getting harder and harder to tell her that there was absolutely no way that anything was happening between the two of them.

“Yeah. Give me a second,” Hobbs said, disappearing, presumably to grab the medical kit.

Deckard let out a heavy sigh as soon as Luke left the room. What was he doing? And was it just his imagination, or was Luke instigating it just as much as he was? Whatever the case, they had bigger issues to deal with at the moment. Deckard would just have to sort through his feelings later.


	16. Pinned Down

This time, it wasn’t a botched mission or a bad guy that had caused Deckard’s misfortune. To be honest, he couldn’t even say it was a bad decision, because he knew it was the only decision he could make. It was nothing more than bad luck, old architecture, and mother nature.

Deckard had been minding his own business, walking down the street while on vacation in Los Angeles. He had finally taken a little bit of time off, and Hobbs had offered to show him the real Los Angeles if he came to visit him and Sam, so Deckard had taken him up on the offer.

It was just before lunchtime as Deckard walked down the street in an older part of the city. He was enjoying being able to take in the city without having to chase down any bad guys or worry about somewhere he needed to infiltrate. Of course, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t on constant alert for any threats, as he was always hypervigilant as a consequence of his lifestyle and profession.

Just as he was about to turn the corner, Deckard felt a large tremor in the street. It was just his luck that an earthquake would hit the city while he was on vacation, trying to stay away from trouble. As he was trying to figure out what to do, he heard a large crack and screaming behind him. He turned to see one of the older buildings on the street partially collapse. People started running out of the building a couple of seconds later, but he could still hear screams from inside.

He could no longer feel any movement of the street, and it seemed like the building was done collapsing. He watched the building a little longer, but no one else came out, and he could still hear screaming coming from inside the building. Before he could even think about it, his feet were moving, and he was running into the building.

There was no way to get upstairs, as the stairs had completely collapsed, but he could hear screaming coming from one of the rooms on the ground floor. Deckard quickly made his way over to the noise, being mindful of all the rubble and potential danger posed by the rickety and damaged building. He located the source of the noise and started shifting rubble off of the desk. Before long he saw a man under the desk. His leg had been crushed by a large chunk of the building, and he looked to be in a lot of pain.

“All right there?” Deckard asked, very carefully shifting the debris to free the man’s leg.

“My leg,” the man moaned.

“Just breathe. You’ll be out in just a sec.”

Once he had freed the leg, he helped the man stand up and supported his shuffling out of the building. As soon as he made sure the man was safe, he ran back into the building, knowing that there were others still trapped inside. Almost immediately, he heard a soft whimpering. Making his way over to the noise, he found a young woman who had been impaled by a pipe that had been shaken loose from the building.

“What’s your name?” he asked, assessing the situation.

“Sarah,” she said quietly, stifling a sob.

There was quite a bit of blood coming from the area of the impalement, and though Deckard knew it wasn’t ideal to move her, he knew that the rest of the building would probably be coming down at any moment. It would be a lot easier to save her life by moving her outside instead of leaving her to be crushed by the weight of the building.

“Okay, Sarah. I know this is hard, but I need to get you outside.”

To her credit, Sarah seemed to take the news pretty well. She nodded shakily, but didn’t protest. Deckard looked at the pipe, which didn’t seem to be attached to anything. He knew it would be best for him to move the woman with the pipe still intact, as pulling it out could cause her to lose too much blood.

Very carefully, Deckard gathered Sarah into his arms and carried her outside, mindful not to jostle the pipe too much. He left her outside in the care of an uninjured bystander before running back into the building. He walked down a short hallway and was just about to enter one of the rooms when he felt the building rumble. Running back to the entrance, he tried to get outside before the building came down, but was unsuccessful.

He must have blacked out, because when he came to, he was enclosed by rubble. He tried to shift around a little, stopping quickly when some of the debris slid around and pinned his torso down more than it had been. Luckily, he managed to fish his phone out of his pocket and dial Hobbs’ number. When Hobbs picked up, Deckard’s talked first.

“Are you and Sam safe?”

“We’re fine. Was that your first earthquake?”

“Yeah, think I’ll pass on any more. Say, think you could come help me out?”

As much as Deckard hated asking for help, he was not going to stay buried until any sort of emergency services came and managed to dig him out. If he wanted out, he was going to have to make it happen himself. By calling Luke. Ugh.

“What’s up?”

“Just got myself in a bit of a jam.”

“What happened?”

Deckard cringed at the concern in his voice, dreading that he needed to ask for help. He ignored the question, just giving Hobbs the street name and rough description of where he was before hanging up, knowing that Hobbs would see the downed building and know that was where he was.

While he waited, Deckard took stock of his injuries. Somehow, he had managed to scrape by without too many injuries. His torso was completely pinned, but at least it wasn’t crushing him. His left arm and leg were also pinned, and he couldn’t tell the extent of injuries to them, but he was able to move everything else without trouble. He was pretty sure that he had at least a mild concussion, as his head was giving him a little trouble.

Before long, his phone rang.

“Please tell me you aren’t under that building,” Hobbs said, voice tight.

“Okay, I won’t tell you.”

“Shit.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Stay put, I’m coming.”

“Not exactly going anywhere, Megamind.”

Luke sighed, and Deckard could hear him moving. Soon enough, he could hear footsteps on the rubble near him.

“Hey!” he called, trying to give Hobbs a better idea of where he was trapped.

He could hear the shifting of debris, and winced as a couple of smaller pieces rained down on his face. Knowing that Hobbs was doing everything he could to get him out of there, Deckard bit back the complaint that was on the tip of his tongue. Fortunately, it was only a minute more before Luke had moved enough rubble for Deckard to be able to see him.

“Hello, Sunshine!” Hobbs said, relief evident on his face.

“Just get me out of here,” Deckard said, but he gave Luke a small smile.

Not for the first time, Deckard was glad for Hobbs’ muscles. If anyone could move the large piece of rubble trapping him, it was Luke. Hobbs took the pieces one by one, carefully shifting everything to systematically get Deckard free. Before long, all that remained was the one large piece covering the majority of his body, pinning him down.

“You ready?” Luke asked, looking at Deckard.

“Yeah.”

As Hobbs lifted the part of the building, Deckard quickly rolled out of the way, completely freeing himself. Once he was free, Luke let the piece drop with a grunt. After a few heaving breaths, Deckard gathered himself.

“Thanks,” Deckard said, taking Luke’s extended hand and standing up.

“Always the hero, huh?” Luke asked, nudging Deckard.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Deckard said, seeing that the other injured people were being taken care of. All he wanted to do was go lay down and take something for his head.

“Let’s go,” Luke said, leading Deckard to his car. It looked like Deckard was going to be spending time with Luke and Sam sooner than planned, though he wouldn’t say it was unwelcome.


	17. Stay With Me

It was a bright Thursday morning in Barcelona when the sound of gunfire and screaming pierced the air. People ran from the source of the shooting, running as fast as their legs could possibly carry them. It was a natural survival instinct that kept people running from similar dangers, but just for once, Luke wished that he wasn’t at the very center of said issues.

Typically, when people were running from something, Luke found himself running towards it or already at the place where the screaming was originating from. He took it in stride, knowing that he would never be able to live with himself if he let something happen that could have been stopped. He was highly skilled, and it was very important to him to put those skills to good use.

This time, he wasn’t running towards the disturbance because he happened to be part of the reason the gunfire was happening. He and Shaw were caught in a gunfight with a couple of international criminals the two had been tracking for almost a month. They had finally gotten a location earlier in the week and had flown to Spain to apprehend them. It had been pretty easy to track them down, but they had taken a few days to nail down a plan to get everyone involved.

Even with a plan, it was always a big risk to engage these types of people, and both Luke and Deckard knew that there were many dangers involved. Luke felt like it was more important to take them down than to worry about the risks, especially when they had the means to hurt countless people. He didn’t want that on his conscience. What if Sam was caught up in one of their plans? That just didn’t work for him.

Luke poked his head around the corner of the pillar he had found himself behind to see exactly what they were dealing with. Shaw was pinned down just to the right of him, but they hadn’t been able to make much progress since the people they were after had pulled out the guns with a tactical positional advantage. He pulled back quickly as a bullet whizzed by his head.

Locking eyes with Deckard, Luke motioned for him to see if he could get a better angle to take any of them down. Shaw looked out from where he was bunkered down and fired two shots, grinning when he heard a yell of pain. He quickly moved out from his position, starting to advance to a slightly better position. Unfortunately, Luke saw one of the men fire at Shaw right before he managed to get behind cover.

“You good?” Luke asked as he heard a muffled grunt from Deckard.

“Just a scratch. Nothing major.”

“We need to end this soon,” Luke said, knowing that a drawn-out fight would just give the criminals more time to regroup and escape to yet another city.

“Got a plan?”

“Follow my lead and cover me.”

Luke couldn’t see Deckard’s face, but he was almost positive that Shaw would be rolling his eyes. It wasn’t much of a plan, but he was just hoping that their combined skills would be enough to take these guys down before they could make anything else bad happen. It would be good if they could limit the damage done to the city and make sure that no innocent civilians were hurt in the process.

Going straight towards the people they were after didn’t seem to be working for them, so they would just have to find a way to get to them without attracting too much attention. Luke made a mad dash to his right, running pillar to pillar and trying to get behind each without getting shot. He managed to get to the last pillar before taking a moment to catch his breath. Shaw was still in his previous position, shooting at anyone who popped out trying to shoot at them, effectively giving Luke a window to execute his plan.

He knew it was risky, but going right for the criminals seemed like the best way to end things quickly without putting anyone else in danger. Looking over at Deckard one last time, Luke came at the group of bad guys from the side, shooting at anyone who moved. He managed to take down a couple of them, hearing Deckard’s fire moving closer to them. Luke huffed as he took two bullets to his torso, glad that he was wearing his vest. It stung, and he knew he would have some nasty bruises in the morning, but the shots hadn’t made their way through the protective layer.

Things were going very well with managing to take out the criminals, which Luke was very glad for, but it didn’t last. Just as he was advancing on the last few shooters, one of them managed to get a lucky shot off. The vest was so important to protecting him, but it had failed him at last. The bullet had been at just the right trajectory to miss all of the protected areas and slip in between the front and back, right in the side. Luke took down the man who had gotten the lucky shot, but he knew that he was in trouble pretty quickly.

Luke could feel the area around the shot get wet, knowing that there was a pretty good amount of blood escaping his body. Breathing became a much harder task, and pain flared in his chest. He sat down heavily, pretty sure that his lung had been punctured by the bullet. He was having a significant amount of trouble catching his breath, which was never a good sign. Searching for Deckard, he saw the man take down the last few threats, securing the scene.

It didn’t take long before Deckard made his way over to him. Luke could see the rip in his sleeve and blood from where the bullet had hit him earlier, but he seemed to be in much better shape than Luke. Ever perceptive, Deckard noticed that something was wrong immediately.

“You got hit,” he stated, looking Luke over carefully.

“Gold star,” Luke coughed out, still struggling to catch his breath.

“How bad?”

In response, Luke started trying to remove his vest, pausing when the pain in his chest flared with the movement. Deckard noticed what he was trying to do and took over undoing the straps, giving them a better look at the area in his side. He was bleeding profusely from the wound, and Luke wondered what else the bullet had hit to cause that much damage.

“Shit,” Deckard swore, pulling out his phone and calling for medical help immediately.

As he was making the call, Luke felt his eyes growing heavier. It was still taking a fair amount of energy to breathe, and the blood loss was making him feel so tired. He tried to keep his eyes open, thinking of all the things that made living so important to him. Sam, his family, Deckard, keeping the world safe. Wait, why was Deckard on that list? Had he really become so important to him? If his brain had been working at full capacity, he would have wondered about it a little more, but the real answer was that Deckard had become that important to him. Maybe he hadn’t been able to say anything about it, but Deckard was an integral part of his life, both professionally and personally.

He let his eyes slide closed, tired of trying to figure out his emotions on top of dealing with his physical condition. Of course, Deckard being the shit that he was wouldn’t let him rest. He shook Luke’s shoulder gently, tapping him on the cheek a little harder when Luke didn’t respond to him.

“What?” Luke groaned, trying to move away from Deckard’s incessant badgering.

“Hey, open your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Why are you being so difficult?” Deckard asked, but there was no bite to his words.

Luke let out a small chuckle that turned into a pained groan. He kept his eyes closed, not having the energy to open them. He could feel himself slipping away, but he just couldn’t keep it from happening.

“Stay with me, Luke. Come on, you have to stay awake,” Deckard plead, and it was probably the most desperate Luke had ever heard the man sound, on par with the time he had been trying to persuade Hattie that she needed to stick with the plan of trying to extract the virus from her blood instead of killing her.

That alone shocked Luke so much that he was able to crack his eyes open slightly, though that didn’t last long. He met Deckard’s eyes, surprised at the amount of emotion the other man was letting through. The tightness in Luke’s chest was getting worse, and he was feeling absolutely terrible. As his eyes slipped closed again, Deckard spoke again.

“Stay with me, please.”


	18. Muffled Scream

Hattie let out a deep sigh as she stripped out of her work clothes. It had been a really long week, and all she wanted to do was take a long shower and crawl into bed. She was exhausted down to the bone and didn’t know how much more she could take before she would crack. She stepped into the shower and let the hot water cascade down her bruised body.

Her team had gotten the shit beat out of them earlier in the week, even if they had come out ahead in the end, but she still had all the marks to prove how hard fought the victory was. She worked the shampoo into her hair, letting herself take a few minutes to relax. It was a good thing that she had the next day off, and she was planning on trying to let herself take at least part of the day to herself without any real responsibilities. Sleeping in was the first thing on her to-do list.

As she stepped out of the shower and into her pajamas, Hattie thought about trying to read a book or watch some TV, but she knew that she wouldn’t really be able to focus on either of those things. She simply wanted to sleep for a long time. With that in mind, she slipped under the covers and turned out the lamp, not bothering to set herself an alarm. She typically had a built-in alarm anyways, so she probably wouldn’t be able to sleep in as late as she wanted.

Hattie didn’t know exactly how long she tossed and turned before she finally fell asleep. She had kicked the covers off and pulled them back up countless times before sleep had taken her, but that was the usual. Sleep never came easy to her. All of her mistakes and regrets came back to haunt her as she waited to fall asleep every night. She figured that it was an unfortunate side effect of her job, and though she couldn’t do anything about the past, she took it as a reminder that she needed to do better in the future, to be better in the future.

It seemed like she was only asleep a few minutes before all of the week’s hardships and her past failings invaded her dreams, or more realistically, nightmares. She was trapped in a swirling vortex of her worst memories and fears for the future. She jerked upright, sweat dripping down her back. As she muffled her scream in a pillow, she pulled away from the damp sheets, trying desperately to calm her gasping breaths.

Not really giving herself time to recover, Hattie grabbed her sweatshirt and pulled it over her head, rushing out the door. She rushed to her car, slamming the door as she got in. Driving a good deal over the speed limit, she made it to her destination extremely quickly, exiting the car and pounding loudly on the door. Sure, she could have picked the lock, but with her hands shaking as much as they were, she figured that this was much faster.

“Jesus, what the fucking hell are you-” Deckard cut off with a grunt as Hattie flung herself at him.

Deckard seemed at a loss for words as Hattie stood there, clinging to him and shaking like a leaf in the wind. He wrapped his strong arms around Hattie, letting the silence be for a moment. Hattie had always been able to go to Deckard when she had nightmares when she was younger, and he had always made things better. Things were always better when Deckard was there.

“You okay there, Hats? Let’s get inside,” he said, guiding her inside and shutting the door. “You look like hell.”

“You joined Eteon,” Hattie finally said, finding her voice.

“No way. I wouldn’t do that, you know that.”

“In my dream. Brixton convinced you. You joined him and took the Snowflake,” Hattie continued.

Hattie didn’t tell him all the horrible details of her nightmare. She didn’t want to relive all the terrible things she had seen, and something told her that Deckard understood what she meant anyways. The nightmare had been a twisted combination of truth and lies, and though it was getting easier to separate the two now that she was awake, she still wasn’t completely certain of the actual reality of the situation.

“I would never leave you. Not again, not ever,” Deckard said firmly.

“It felt so real. You and Brixton-”

“Me and Brixton nothing. He’s over. He’s done. Besides, Luke wouldn’t have let that happen. He and I won’t ever turn. You heard us back then. Even Brixton knew he wouldn’t get us- I saw it in his eyes.”

“You promise you won’t leave?” Hattie finally asked after a short pause, voice breaking.

“Hattie, the hardest thing I ever did was to stay away from you and our family. I’m not going to leave or turn. I’m here to stay.”

Hattie stared hard at Deckard, trying to see if there were any cracks in his resolve. Finding none, she let her shoulders slump, betraying her absolute exhaustion. If she thought she was tired before, it was nothing compared to how she was feeling now. The sheer terror she had felt after her nightmare was finally starting to abate.

“Now will you please get some rest?” Deckard asked gently, pulling her to her feet and guiding her to her old room.

Even though she had her own place, the room she had stayed in after the whole ordeal with Eteon was always ready for her at Deckard’s place. He always seemed to keep it ready, as if he knew that she would need it sometime. It was rare, but she had found herself over there a few times when she couldn’t stand to be alone. She let herself fall back on the bed, eyes closing immediately. All she could do was hope that she was too exhausted to dream for the rest of the night.

“We’ll talk more in the morning,” Deckard murmured, hesitating for a moment before kissing the top of her head before softly shutting the door behind him.


	19. Asphyxiation

Why was it so hard for people to stick to the plan? There wouldn’t be as much of a need for fifteen back-up plans if people would just do their jobs. Incompetence bugged Deckard to no end, and it was just his luck that he had gotten stuck with the worst team possible on the mission. Luke had gotten paired with the good team, but Deckard had drawn the short straw.

Of course, given that he was still in questionable standing with multiple governments, he didn’t have much room to argue. It was enough luck that he had managed to come on this assignment with Luke. In reality, it was probably less luck and more that Hobbs had demanded that he needed Deckard’s skills on this particular mission. Whatever the case, Deckard was just mad that he was working with a bunch of incompetent fools. His team was set to take custody of the human trafficker, while Luke’s team was taking care of liberating any victims in the compound.

Deckard’s team had managed to infiltrate the compound and take the major human trafficker into custody, but it seemed as though the woman didn’t want it to be so easy. Deckard had wanted his team to make their way out as soon as possible, but the team had wasted time trying to see if there was anything useful for legal purposes in the room. Deckard’s plan had been to move right away, but when he tried to remind them of that, be had been brushed off.

As they were finally about to make their way out, all of the lights in the building flickered off. Deckard could hear his team panicking, followed by the sound of gunfire. He couldn’t tell if the gunfire was coming from his team or a new group of enemies, but he knew it was time to get out of there. He grabbed the members of his team within reach, steering them out of the door and telling them to regroup. If they had just followed his plan, this wouldn’t have been an issue.

As he turned back into the room with gunfire still audible, Deckard let his instincts take over. It was clearly security forces from the human trafficker, and they were trying to take him and his team out. He ducked and spun around, collecting members of his team and pulling them out, going until all of the security forces had zeroed in on him. He escaped into the hallway, running to follow where his team had gone. When he caught up to them, he swore when he saw that there was no one in handcuffs with them.

“Where is she?” he asked, clearly mad.

“Sorry, sir, she got away.”

“How could you let her get away? Fucking useless idiots.”

“She just slipped away in the dark,” the one soldier said, looking like he was about to pee his pants.

Deckard had a lot to say, but he knew it wasn’t the right time when he saw the security forces running down the hallway towards them, shooting as they went. His team scrambled, turning and running, only a couple of them even trying to shoot at the team pursuing them. A few bullets found their mark in the bad guys, but some of the bad guys’ bullets had found their mark in Deckard’s men. Luckily, none of them were wounded badly enough to go down.

If his team had just listened to him, they would have been out with the asset secured already. Luckily, Deckard was a master of things not going according to plan, and that could be useful. They reached the split at the end of the long hallway. Deckard looked down both directions, sending his team down the one branch, hoping to let them get out safely by drawing the security down the other side.

“Hobbs,” he said over his comm.

“Kind of busy right now, Shaw,” Hobbs responded.

“Yeah, same here,” Deckard huffed.

“Are those gunshots?”

“Those morons can’t follow a simple fucking plan! They lost the asset.”

“What?!”

“Wasn’t my fault. Shit, got to go,” Deckard said, seeing the security get closer.

He delayed his exit until he managed to capture the attention of all of the security forces, getting almost all of them to chase after him. However incompetent his team, he figured that they would definitely be able to handle the few who had followed them.

Though they were still pursuing Deckard and shooting at him, he had managed to put a fair bit of distance between them. He reached the end of the hallway and yanked open the door, groaning when he saw the dock with a rushing river. There was no road, no solid earth, just fast-moving water.

Unfortunately, he had no place else to go. Taking a deep breath, Deckard jumped into the swirling water. Deckard was a strong swimmer, but even that couldn’t stop the current from having its way. He felt the water strip away all of his communication devices, which was unfortunate, but he couldn’t focus on that. All he could do was try to keep his head above water.

Letting his arms slice through the water, Deckard tried his best to get to the other side of the river, knowing that he had to get out soon before the water sapped all of his strength away. Somehow, it seemed as though the current was getting stronger, and Deckard found himself slipping under for longer periods of time. He sucked in another deep breath before a wave crashed over his head, kicking furiously. The undertow pulled him deeper, and this time, he wasn’t able to fight it enough. His breath escaped his lips, asphyxiating him. Just as the blackness was closing around him, Deckard thought he felt hands closing around his arms, pulling him up.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Luke’s voice cut through the swirl of blackness that was spotting in his vision.

“How are you always here?” Deckard asked after coughing out a fair bit of water.

“I’ll always be here for you,” Luke said, staring Deckard straight in the eyes. “Besides, this is payback for all the times you’ve saved my ass.”

“Don’t you forget it,” Deckard said, laying his head back on the ground for a second and letting himself catch his breath. It was never a dull moment with the two of them around, but Deckard wouldn’t have it any other way.


	20. Trembling

Deckard took a deep breath, coughing as the smoke irritated his airway. He knew how important it was for him to get out of the building, but that was easier said than done. He had been lucky enough to miss the explosion that had preceded the blaze, but it seemed as though the person behind the explosion had planned enough in advance to spread some sort of accelerant around, causing the fire to spread very quickly.

Flames licked the hallway behind him, effectively forcing him to move forward. He hissed as the flames caught up to him, moving very fast. The fire brushed up against his back, and he moved faster, trying to avoid getting hurt more by the flames. It would be very bad to be trapped in the blaze. He needed to find a way out quickly.

As Deckard searched for a way out of the hallway, he worried about the others who had been in the hotel with him. Luke and Hattie had been with him earlier in the evening, but they had not been together at the time the fire started. The three of them had parted ways a while before the explosion, and Deckard was really hoping that none of them had been caught up and were hurt. He knew that both of them could take care of themselves, but he cared about both of them so much that he couldn’t help but worry.

Feeling the back of the door at the end of the hall to make sure it wasn’t hot, Deckard cautiously opened the door, letting out a sigh of relief when the hallway was clear of fire. Smoke still clouded the air, but there were no visible flames. He knew the fire would be moving fast behind him, so he looked around for the best exit route. Unfortunately, the door led to a landing with only a stairway down one flight, and as he looked, the stairway was collapsed. The way he had come was completely engulfed with flames, and he could see flames downstairs past the collapsed stairs. He was effectively trapped.

Looking behind him, Deckard knew he had no choice but to jump down the collapsed stairwell. The fire was catching up to him quickly, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before he would be totally overtaken by it. His best bet would be jumping and hoping that he didn’t get too injured in the process. As long as he could keep moving, he had a chance of making it out safely. He just hoped that Luke and Hattie had made it out before they had gotten hurt.

Bracing himself and jumping, Deckard rolled as he hit the floor below. The collapsed rubble made it difficult to have a smooth landing, but he managed as well as possible. He had twisted his ankle badly, but overall, things could have been much, much worse. He got to his feet quickly, limping down the hallway. He made it most of the way down the hall before the flames that had been mostly low started flaring up. They roared up, making Deckard limp faster.

Deckard saw another door and hoped that it was the way out. The door didn’t feel too hot, but just before he was able to pull it open, flames engulfed his left arm. He yelled and swatted at the flames, trying to get the fire out. Deckard stumbled through the door, not having managed to put out the fire on his arm. Before he could do anything else, someone threw a cloth over his arm, effectively smothering the flames.

“Deck!” Hattie’s voice cut through the smoke, and he couldn’t remember the last time he was so happy to hear her voice.

“Hattie,” Deckard sighed in relief.

He took a few breaths of the fresh outside air after making sure that all the flames on his body were extinguished. His arm was really stinging, but he ignored it to focus on his sister and trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

“Where’s Luke?” he asked, looking around for the bigger man.

“I don’t know. He was going to his room last time I saw him. What’s going on?”

“Don’t know. We need to find Luke and get out of here.”

Though he wouldn’t admit it, he was very uneasy about where Luke was. Had he been stuck inside and couldn’t get out when the fire started? If he wasn’t out by now, there was a pretty good chance he was injured and trapped inside. And who had set the fire? Were they after the three of them? If so, they were in danger just by standing out in the open. The fire could have just been an excuse to get them out in the open.

“Are you okay?” Hattie asked, grabbing his shoulder.

Deckard hadn’t noticed until she pointed it out, but he was trembling. Whether that was from the physical pain of his burn, his injured ankle, or the stress of not knowing what was happening to Luke, he couldn’t say. He really wanted to race back inside the hotel to find Luke, but he knew it was impossible. Given the state of the hotel during his escape, there was no way he would be able to help anyone trapped inside before he was incapacitated by the fire or collapsing building.

“Fine.”

In reality, Deckard knew that they should move. If the fire had really been an attempt to get the three of them, standing out in the open was giving the people after them a better chance of finishing the job, but Deckard wanted to stay where they were in case Luke came out the same way he did. He was clinging on to the hope that Luke was alive and well, but his hope was quickly dwindling.

He was staring at the burning hotel when he heard Hattie’s voice.

“Are you okay? Where are you?” A pause. “Well, Deck’s worried about you, so get your arse back here so he can see you’re fine.”

Well, he felt like an idiot. Instead of pining and staring at the hotel, he could have just tried to call Luke to see if he had actually been trapped in the hotel. He whipped around and grabbed the phone out of Hattie’s hand.

“Why was he worried?” Luke’s voice came through the phone.

“There was a fire, Megamind. Don’t come back here, meet us at the garage.”

That was enough of a code so that anyone who could be listening to them wouldn’t know where they were talking about, but Luke would know where he was talking about.

“Fire? Are you okay? And Hattie?”

“We’re just peachy. Just hurry up,” Deckard said, hanging up on Luke and handing the phone back to Hattie.

The feeling of relief sweeping through him made the trembling worse for a moment before it stopped. Hattie gave him a look, and Deckard hated that she could see right through him. He knew she would never do anything to hurt him, but it scared him how well Hattie knew him and how he would react to situations, even with the years they had been apart.

“There’s nothing wrong with caring for someone,” Hattie said quietly once they had reached the car.

“I know that,” Deckard said quickly. “I know that,” he repeated more gently a second later. “I’m working on it.”

“You’re doing great,” Hattie said, giving him a smile. “He’s okay, and you’re okay. Well, mostly okay. You still smell burned.”

“That’s the least of my problems,” Deckard grumbled, but he did crack a grin. He might not be the best at letting his emotional side show, but like he said, he was working on it. All he wanted to do was meet up with Luke so he could see with his own two eyes that he was good. Pushing his worries to the back of his mind, he stepped on the gas and ignored Hattie’s smirk, eager to get to the meet-up with Luke.


	21. Laced Drink

Though Luke was typically more of the type to get the job done and get out quickly, smashing the things that got in his way, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be part of the longer and more intricate infiltration missions. His strength was, well, his strength, but he had a fair amount of brains to go with all that brawn.

He was standing at the bar during a fancy party in Rome, doing his best to blend in and observe the scene. His mark hadn’t made an appearance as of yet, but he knew that it was a common occurrence for her. While he finished his drink, he studied the layout of the party. There were a lot of rich people in fancy dresses and suits milling around. He was trying to keep a low profile, so he hadn’t brought a whole team of back-up, but he locked eyes with Deckard across the room. Knowing that he and Deckard were there together made him feel a lot more confident. He just wished that the two of them could be at the bar together.

As Luke’s mark entered the room, he saw a good portion of the room turn to look at her, including him and Deckard. He studied the woman and noted the multiple bodyguards that followed her every move. Luckily, he wasn’t there to do anything other than get information from her and get her to trust him enough to broker a meeting for a later time.

She swept up to the bar, letting her bodyguards disperse slightly, though they stayed close. Luke let enough time pass so that most of the partygoers had taken their attention off of his mark before sidling up to her stealthily. One of the bodyguards took a menacing step forward, but the woman waved him off. After all, she wanted to meet with him too. She flagged the bartender down and ordered two drinks, sliding one over to Luke.

“Good evening. I am Laure, but you probably already knew that.”

“It’s nice to meet you in person, Laure. You look beautiful,” Luke said with a charming smile, taking a sip of his drink.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she responded, French accent thick in her words.

“How about the information you promised?”

“If you have the money,” she chuckled.

Luke saw Deckard moving closer out of the corner of his eye, no doubt wondering about the information they needed. The information would save thousands and thousands of lives, so they needed to secure it with no delay. Their governments were even willing to pay for the information, though they could never admit to being involved directly. That was where Luke and Deckard came in. For now, they would settle for the information, though they were hoping to set up a meeting later where they could help take down the terrorist ring instead of just stopping the attacks.

“Here it is,” Luke said, sliding an envelope across the bar.

Laure smiled as she discreetly flipped through the envelope, counting the money. She held up her drink and toasted with Luke.

“Very good. If you follow Albert, he will get you the information.”

Something in Luke’s gut told him that following any of Laure’s men would not end well for him. He didn’t want to expose Deckard’s position by looking over at him, so he rubbed the back of his head instead, giving the silent signal that he felt something was wrong. He knew Deckard wouldn’t just rush over, but it gave him the heads-up to be more aware of what was happening and the possibility of action.

“Why don’t you just tell me what I need to know here?” Luke asked, trying to sound nonchalant, taking another sip of his drink.

Laure had a sour look on her face, but she plastered on a clearly fake smile. Luke didn’t like the way she or her bodyguards were acting, especially when she was holding back on her end of the deal. It was more than his safety that he had to think of, and he knew that he needed to get the job done.

“Fine. The next attack will be in New York exactly four days from now, followed by attacks in Washington, Los Angeles, London, and Glasgow.”

“Where exactly? Who is doing this?”

“That’s not the information you paid for.”

“Tell me everything,” Luke growled, slamming his fists on the bar.

“That is no way to act at a party like this. Let’s just say I’m not the only one fond of using cyanide. Albert?”

Luke was about to protest when Laure and her bodyguards started quickly out of the room. He finally caught Deckard’s eye and swiftly followed behind the group.

“What the hell happened?” Deckard asked, catching up to Luke.

“They wouldn’t tell us anything other than the locations of the attacks. She said New York in four days, then…” Luke cut off as a wave of nausea ran through him.

“What’s wrong?” Deckard asked, turning to look at Luke.

“She also said something about cyanide. I think they might be using that in the attacks,” Luke paused for a second, something clicking in his mind. “They put it in my drink.”

“Fuck, are you serious?”

“You need to go after them,” Luke said, starting to feel dizzy, breathing fast.

“No. I’m not leaving you.”

“You have to get them. They know more than they’re letting on.”

“We’ll get them later. We need to get you taken care of.”

There was a brief staring contest, but Deckard won. He had already started dragging Luke towards the exit and the car, and Luke knew he needed to get medical treatment before the poison worked irreparable damage on his system. Luckily, he hadn’t finished his entire drink, but he had probably still ingested a fair amount of the poison.

As they made their way out of the building, Luke started to feel weak, his legs not working properly. He dragged them along as quickly as possible, but needed to lean on Deckard a fair amount. To his credit, Deckard didn’t complain at all, but that made Luke more nervous. Deckard always had some witty comment poking fun at him, so him not saying anything was abnormal. Luke was waiting for him to say something like ‘You need to start laying off all those cheat days. They’re catching up to you,’ but nothing came. Deckard practically shoved him in the car and sped off, shooting him worried glances.

“You aren’t being very covert,” Luke groaned.

“No time for that. If I get you to the hospital in time, we’ll have years to make up for it.”

“Years, huh?”

Deckard was as he ran through a couple of stop signs, but eventually, he cleared his throat.

“Well, yeah, I suppose I’d like that.”

“Me too,” Luke said, not sure if his racing heart was from the poison or the emotions.

“Then you’d better not die on me,” Deckard said, finally pulling up in front of the hospital, parking the car very illegally as he pulled Luke inside.

The medical staff reacted quickly once they saw the scene bursting through the door, bringing Luke back once away, especially when they heard Deckard mention cyanide. They didn’t want to let Deckard come back with them, but after a few mean looks from him and a whispered plea from Luke, they finally relented. Luke eventually closed his eyes, just meaning to rest them for a few seconds, but when he opened them again, he was in a room alone with Deckard, who was pacing the length of the room.

“Are you trying to wear a path in the floor?”

Deckard spun around quickly, and it didn’t look like he even bothered to try to hide the relief on his face.

“You’d get lost without a path to the door, wouldn’t you?”

“Not if you were here to show me the way,” Luke said, trying to gauge how open Deckard was going to be.

“It’s a lot of work to keep you out of trouble.”

“It’s more work to keep you out of trouble.”

“Doubtful,” Deckard scoffed. “Look at who’s in the hospital bed right now.”

“So, did you mean what you said earlier?” Luke asked, not bothering to clarify. He knew Deckard would know what he meant.

“Yes,” Deckard said, sighing. “You make me feel… dangerous things. I didn’t want to let myself feel anything like that again, but I couldn’t help it with you around.”

“I meant what I said too. I like being around you. A lot. And I want you to feel comfortable to let yourself feel whatever you feel around me.”

“Thank you,” Deckard said softly. “I’m glad you’re okay. Didn’t anyone ever teach you to watch your drink?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll have to be more careful next time. I’m glad you were there with me today. Thank you for getting me help.”

“Of course,” Deckard said. “Now, get some rest. I’m going to go track down those bastards.”

“Not without me,” Luke said, moving to get up.

“Woah, big guy. You aren’t going anywhere yet. Rest for a little bit, then you can come back me up.”

Luke grumbled, but knew that Deckard wouldn’t let him go anywhere yet. If nothing else, he would do a little research in the hospital before sneaking out once Deckard was gone. He knew Deckard was out for blood, especially given the revelations they had shared. Luke was beyond thrilled that he had gotten Deckard to open up so much and that Deckard shared his feelings. He wasn’t sure exactly where things would go from there, but it was a really good start.


	22. Hallucination

It was a very warm day in the Gobi Desert, and though Luke knew that they weren’t too far away from their destination, he was starting to feel absolutely overheated. He was doing his best to push through it, but he was wearing a bulletproof vest and lugging around a large amount of equipment.

As they continued their journey, Luke started feeling really bad. He had been feeling super hot for a while, but now he was feeling nauseous and dizzy. Not wanting to hold them back, he pushed through it. He just had to get through the rest of the day. Once he could refill his empty water bottle and sit down for a time, he was sure that he would feel much better.

“You good?” Deckard caught his eye.

“Yeah, just a little warm,” Luke said, keeping his answer short.

They trudged through the desert a bit longer, Luke still feeling miserable, and Deckard shooting him covert concerned glances. At this point, Luke’s muscles were starting to cramp up, and he was starting to feel dizzy. He took a few more steps before stumbling to the ground. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he was feeling horrible.

“That does not look like you’re good,” Deckard said, appearing in Luke’s vision.

“Are we almost there?” Luke slurred out, realizing that something was really wrong.

Luke had done his best to keep hydrated and cool in the extreme desert climate, but apparently, he hadn’t done enough. He was pretty sure that what he was feeling was heat stroke, and it was not a pleasant feeling.

“We’re close. Do you think you can keep going?”

Luke nodded, taking a little time to clamber to his feet, Deckard helping him up. He swayed a little once he was standing, but Deckard kept him steady. Not for the first time, Luke was so glad that Deckard was there with him. Even with all the partners Luke had over the years, he had never had a partner quite like Deckard. He had also never had someone from his work life that he cared about in the same way he cared about Deckard.

It took longer than it should have, but Luke and Deckard finally made it back to their shelter. Luke had relished the comfort being close to Deckard brought the entire trip back, even if being close to someone made him even warmer. He felt safe being with Deckard. As they stumbled through the door, Deckard deposited Luke on a chair.

“Take your gear off,” he instructed.

“I didn’t know you wanted my clothes off so badly,” Luke teased, stripping off his heavy gear.

It was a lot harder than it should have been, but he was just so weak, and the muscle twitches weren’t helping anything. Deckard gave him a half amused and half concerned look as he looked for a way to make the room colder. Luke turned away from him and fiddled with his shoes, trying to take them off. All of a sudden, something caught his eye in the corner.

“Hattie! What are you doing here?”

“What?” Deckard asked, sounding distracted.

“You didn’t tell me Hattie was going to be here,” Luke said, getting shakily to his feet to walk over to where he saw Hattie.

“She’s not.”

“What do you mean? She’s right there. You need to get your vision checked.”

Deckard finally abandoned what he was doing and walked over to Luke, staring at him concernedly and pulling him back over to sit down.

“Hattie’s in London. There’s no one there. What else do you see?”

Luke blinked, trying to figure out what was going on. He laughed, even if he wasn’t really sure why he was laughing. The whole situation was funny, he supposed, and that explained it. He saw Hattie sitting there, so why was Deckard so adamant that she wasn’t there?

“But she’s right there. Why are you lying to me?”

“Listen to me. We’re the only ones here right now. Me and you. And I would never lie to you.”

“You lied before.”

“That was before… everything. You mean too much to me to lie to you anymore.”

Luke paused. His headache had gotten worse and it was really hard for his brain to keep up with everything that was happening. If he was imagining Hattie, was he imagining Deckard? Or the conversation the two were having? After all, Deckard wasn’t usually the best at saying how he felt about their thing, no matter what it was.

“Are you here? Or are you just going to disappear?”

“I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Really? Because Sam really likes having you around.” He paused. “I really like having you around.”

“I won’t leave either of you. I really like being around. You and Sam are really important to me, and I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”

Luke didn’t know why, but it seemed like the times Deckard opened up most about his feelings were the times one of them was hurt or in danger, but he would take it over Deckard not saying anything. Of course, it would be much better if they stopped getting in situations where they ended up injured or in trouble, but given their jobs and personalities, he knew that wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

While he was trying to figure out what to say next, Luke was overcome by another wave of dizziness and almost slumped right out of the chair. Deckard caught him, steadying him. Before Luke had time to react, Deckard poured water all over him.

“Hey!” Luke spluttered, wiping his face with his hand.

“Sorry,” Deckard said, but Luke didn’t think he sounded very sorry at all. “Have to get your temperature down.”

Luke looked over to the corner where he had seen Hattie earlier, but she was gone. Maybe Deckard’s interventions were starting to work.

“Okay, you got my shirt off and I’m all wet. What else do you want?”

“Dunno, some roses might be nice,” Deckard joked, cracking a small smile.

“Roses, huh? Didn’t exactly peg you for a romantic. I’ll have to remember that.”

“Hmm,” Deckard hummed, licking his lips. “You can think about that later.”

“Oh, I will,” Luke said, raising his eyebrow.

Deckard tipped his head back and started laughing, and Luke joined in. It didn’t matter how crappy he was feeling- being with Deckard made everything else seem dim compared to his bright light. Luke was so happy that they had started talking about how they were feeling, because he wasn’t about to let Deckard go. They would deal with the little things like heat stroke and bullet wounds and bad guys as long as they had each other, and that was all that mattered.


	23. Bleeding Out

The darkness was creeping over the forest slowly, but Deckard knew that it would be pitch black before long. The moon would be bright, but the tall trees blocked most of the light from hitting the forest floor. He took another step forward, silent as only someone trained as he was could be. It was imperative that he stay hidden, so he was taking all the precautions he could.

It was almost time for him to meet up with Luke, but they had split up to cover more ground. They were going to make camp together, but they needed to find the base of operations hidden in the forest soon. Deckard had been hoping that they would find it that day, but it was looking more and more like they wouldn’t be able to until at least the next day.

They were in a remote forest where there was no cell phone reception. There were no big cities close by or even small towns, really. They were completely isolated other than each other and the bad guys they were tracking down. If Deckard wasn’t so familiar with that type of mission, where he had no back up or resources at all, he might have been slightly nervous, but he wasn’t. There wasn’t a whole lot that rattled him anymore.

One thing that made him more nervous than he’d ever admit was his relationship with Luke, if you could even call it that. They hadn’t ever explicitly defined it or said that they were actually in a relationship or anything like that, but it was clear to them and everyone that meant anything to the two of them that they were absolutely involved and committed. They didn’t have to say anything, as it was immediately clear how much they meant to each other and how far they would go to protect each other.

Before long, Deckard heard a branch snap. It could be the wildlife, but he had a feeling that it was something more sinister. He turned quickly, surveying his surroundings. Spotting a shadow behind him, he quickly ducked behind a tree. The plan had been to find the base of operations, not to have people find them, but Deckard was used to improvising. Moving to find better cover, Deckard had to pull out some fancy movements to avoid getting hit by the person who came flying at him. As it turned out, there was more than one person, and he got punched right in the face by the second person. He shook it off and pulled out the knife he had sheathed on his leg.

“So that’s how you want to play it,” one of the men growled, pulling out a knife of his own.

“That’s exactly what this is- child’s play,” Deckard responded, narrowing his eyes.

“Are you gonna start crying for mommy?”

“Mum could beat your ass, so I wouldn’t go there.”

The men wisely chose to stay silent after Deckard’s comment. Deckard dropped into a fighting stance, ready to counter any attacks coming his way. Both men launched themselves at Deckard, and though it was two against one, Deckard was more than able to hold his own. He took a couple of blows, but nothing serious. The fight was going well, and Deckard had managed to dispatch one of the men, but there was a twist in the story when another man showed up. Unfortunately, it was not Luke, but another bad guy.

The new man managed to surprise Deckard and stab him. Deckard let out a yell, using his adrenaline to take down both of the men and limp off in the cover of darkness. Luckily, the trajectory of the blade seemed as though it had gone at more of an angle and had missed stabbing the things you really didn’t want to have stabbed in the abdomen. He was definitely bleeding a fair amount, which was very unfortunate given his position. He was in a remote forest with medical help much further away than was safe.

Deckard started making his way to the place he and Luke were to meet up. It was quite a trek, but he eventually made it. Luke wasn’t there when Deckard arrived, and he really hoped that no one had gotten to Luke. It was bad enough that they had found him. Luke could definitely hold his own, so Deckard had full faith that Luke would be showing up soon. Feeling slightly weak from the blood loss, Deckard sat down against a tree and closed his eyes. Before he knew it, he felt a hand shaking his shoulder.

“Deckard,” Luke’s gravelly voice reached his ears.

“Present,” Deckard said, cracking his eyes open. He was slumped over more than he remembered being, and there was blood soaking through his shirt.

“What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

“Got surprised. It’s nothing.”

“It’s clearly not nothing,” Luke scoffed, pulling Deckard’s shirt up. “Jesus, Deck.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“I know you have, but that doesn’t mean that this is not important. We have to get you out of here.”

“We have to finish the job.”

“The job can wait. You’re too important.”

Deckard felt something flutter in his chest when Luke said that. His mind got lost thinking about that, and he drifted off for a moment. He came back to the present when he heard Luke talk again.

“Hey, Decks, I’m going to put pressure on this. We have to try to stop the bleeding.”

Deckard nodded his assent, but that didn’t stop the strangled noise that escaped his mouth when Luke put a fair amount weight behind the pressure on the wound. It hurt a lot. Deckard was no stranger to pain and generally handled it extremely well, but this was a lot, even for him. He knew it was important to stop the bleeding before he bled out, so he didn’t fight it. He focused on Luke’s face instead, trying to push the pain to the back of his mind.

“Are you always this forceful when you’re touching people?”

“Only you, princess.”

Again, something fluttered in his chest. It was clear that Luke cared about Deckard, and he was so grateful for that fact. Deckard cared just as much about Luke, and he hoped Luke knew it. He was pretty sure Luke had some idea, at least.

Deckard couldn’t remember when his eyes slipped closed, but he knew they had been getting heavier as he was talking to Luke. He heard Luke calling his name and shaking him, but he couldn’t find the strength to open his eyes and respond. Before he completely lost his senses, he felt his body being gathered up by Luke’s strong but gentle arms. He turned his head into Luke’s chest and inhaled Luke’s distinct smell. Whatever else happened, he felt comforted and safe being so close to Luke. He hoped the next time he opened his eyes, Luke would be sitting at his bedside. They would be able to take the bad guys after that. For now, he knew he was safest with Luke.


	24. Secret Injury

It had been far too long since Deckard had talked to Luke. After their semi-disastrous mission in the remote woods where Luke had stepped up to save Deckard, they had both been very busy. Deckard had been healing and running missions of his own, which left little down time. From the little he had heard from Luke, he had been very busy as well. Deckard had tried to find a time to connect with Luke to discuss their feelings, but neither of their schedules had lined up enough to do that, and Deckard was not about to do that electronically.

As much as Deckard was skittish about letting himself trust and let people in romantically, this thing with Luke had progressed to the point where he couldn’t help himself. Being with Luke made him feel happy, and there was a definite spark in their interactions. Deckard was one step beyond interested, and if he was reading Luke correctly, the other man felt the same way.

One dreary Monday, things lined up well for Deckard. Mr. Nobody called with a mission for him, and it sounded like a good time. Mr. Nobody gave him all the details, and as always, there was no room for argument.

“You’ll be working with Hobbs. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“No, no, that’s just fine.”

“Good, good,” Mr. Nobody said before hanging up.

Deckard was hoping that this meant that he and Luke would finally have a chance to talk things out after bashing some bad guys. He had some pent-up frustration and anxiety about the whole relationship thing that he would love to take out on the people they were after. Beating people up was more relaxing for him than he should probably admit, but it did make him feel better after doing so.

He threw his supplies and clothes together quickly in order to get to his flight on time. He would be traveling to Los Angeles to complete the job, which he was hoping meant that he would be able to spend some time with Luke and Sam once they were done. Even more than wanting to have a talk with Luke about them, he just wanted to spend time with them. Being away and out of contact with Luke for so long had been so hard for Deckard.

Making it to the airport just in time to catch his flight, Deckard settled in for the long flight. Being stuck in an airplane for long periods of time was one of his least favorite parts of his job. His nature was to run around and be active, not be stuck in a small space where he couldn’t do much. Landing was always such a relief, and this trip was no different.

“Hey, partner,” Luke said, grinning broadly as Deckard walked out of the airport towards him.

“Can’t tell you how glad I am to see you. I thought that plane was never going to land,” Deckard said, giving him a slightly hesitant clasping bro hug.

It wasn’t much, but Deckard really wasn’t great at displaying his affection at the beginning of things, especially not in public. It didn’t seem to matter to Luke, as he enthusiastically returned the hug. In general, Luke seemed to be a much more open person than Deckard could ever hope to be, though that wasn’t a bad thing. Just because Deckard wasn’t and didn’t want to be like that didn’t mean that he didn’t appreciate Luke being that way. He was working on being more open and more affectionate, but just to a normal level.

“Well, we’re really happy to see you, too.”

“We?”

“Hi, Deckard!” Sam said, popping her head out from the car window.

“Sam! How are you, love?”

“I’m really happy you’re here! How are you?”

“Better now that I’m with the two of you.”

“I’m sure Deckard would like to get home,” Luke chimed in, opening the trunk and grabbing Deckard’s bags to load, which earned him a glare from Deckard. He could load his own bags, thank you very much.

“Home?”

“What, you think we’d let you stay at a hotel? No, you’re staying with us this time,” Luke said, putting the car into gear.

Well, that was unexpected. He hadn’t really thought that he would be welcomed into their life so quickly and easily, but he was grateful. He loved his family to no end, but it wasn’t exactly the most loving family in the traditional sense. Anyone who looked at Luke and Sam would know immediately the depth of fatherly love he had for her, and it was clear that she adored him.

Deckard’s mother loved her kids, but she hadn’t been the type of mother most people expected moms to be, and his father was a horrible arse, to put it mildly. Deckard had really been the only one around to raise Owen and Hattie, which did not lend itself to the ‘normal’ family life. He loved his siblings, and they looked up to him.

“Yeah, it will be fun!” Sam added, sticking her head between the front seats and looking between the two of them.

“We have work to do before we can get to all the fun, and like I said, I think Deckard would like a good night’s sleep before anything else.”

The rest of the drive passed quickly, and Deckard was just enjoying the company of Luke and Sam. They were fun to be around. Once they arrived at the house, Sam excitedly jumped out of the car, grabbing Deckard’s hand and dragging him inside to show him where he would be staying.

“This my room,” she said, showing Deckard the inside of a room that he thought looked just like Sam would love it, “and this is your room!” she continued, bringing him to another room.

It was quite simple, but it was perfectly suited for his needs. Luke had been right, as all he needed at that point was a good rest. Luckily, Sam seemed to understand that, as she bid him goodnight and left him be. Deckard practically collapsed on the bed, falling asleep instantly. He didn’t know how much later it was, but Deckard was woken by a soft knock on his door.

“Deckard? Do you want some dinner?”

He got out of bed and opened the door. Food sounded really good, and he definitely wasn’t going to turn down dinner with Luke.

“That would be great,” he said, following Luke downstairs.

Luke had already gotten everything ready. The table was set, the food was out, and everything looked great. There was no sign of Sam, though.

“Where’s Sam?” he asked curiously.

“She’s already over at Lisa’s. We’ll have to get going soon, so it was just easier to drop her off earlier.”

Deckard nodded, taking a seat. He and Luke started eating, letting a silence take over after a few minutes of conversation. Deckard started thinking about them, wondering when he should talk to Luke about everything that had been on his mind for so long. Should he wait until after the mission? Should he just go for it? Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“What is this?”

“Eggplant parmesan?” Luke answered, sounding confused.

“No, I mean, what is this? What are we?” Deckard clarified, motioning between the two of them.

“What do you want us to be?” Luke asked, setting his silverware down.

“You’re the only person I’ve even come close to trusting with this kind of thing for, well, years. If I didn’t want us to be more, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

“More sounds good to me. What do you want to tell Sam?”

“She’s your daughter. I don’t want to overstep.”

“If we’re going to do this, which we both want to, I don’t want you to be worried about overstepping. You’re a very important part of her life, too. We can sit her down when we get back from this job.”

“Okay. So, you’re okay with all of this?” Deckard asked, feeling really good about how well the conversation had gone.

“More than okay. I’ve been hoping that we would get to this point soon,” Luke said, reaching over the table and grasping Deckard’s hand.

Deckard gave it a squeeze back, heart fluttering happily. They finished their dinner with comfortable small talk before disappearing to their respective rooms to get ready to leave for the mission. They went over the details on the drive over, both confident that they would have a relatively easy time, and it was relatively simple for both of them.

Well, it was relatively simple until Deckard chased one of the bad guys over to a window. They had a good, old-fashioned fist fight before Deckard threw the man out the window. Unfortunately, right before the man went out, he managed to grab Deckard and pull him out of the window with him.

As they crashed into the ground, Deckard blacked out. When he opened his eyes again, he fought off a wave of pain. He assessed his situation carefully. The man who had fallen with him appeared to have his eyes still closed, but Deckard couldn’t reach him to check if he needed to be worried that he was going to attack him again. Deckard wiggled his fingers and toes, glad to see that everything still worked, though when he moved his left arm, he was pretty sure that it was broken, along with several ribs. Given that he lost consciousness, he would bet that he had a concussion too, and worst of all, he had a piece of metal sticking through his side.

Still not thinking clearly, Deckard pulled it out, but luckily, it didn’t start gushing blood. It was bleeding a little, but not a significant amount. He sat up carefully before turning to the man who had pulled him out of the window. He checked a pulse, but the man wouldn’t be bothering him again. He took a few shaky steps, checking in with Luke to see what else they needed to do to complete their job. He had finished what he needed to do, and Luke had finished his part, so they met up at the car.

“You good?” Deckard asked, looking Luke over.

“Yeah, you?”

Deckard was in a significant amount of pain, but he wouldn’t admit it. He hated being in hospitals and being looked at by medical personnel, and really, he didn’t think that his injuries were that bad. The concussion was making it hard for him to think straight, but he just wanted to go be with Luke and Sam and get more sleep. He nodded, resting his head against the window and watching the landscape before he fell asleep.

He woke when Luke shook his shoulder gently, telling him that they were home. Deckard couldn’t hide the grimace and moan that escaped him when Luke jostled his injured arm, but he waved off Luke’s concern.

“I’m going to go pick up Sam,” Luke said, checking the clock.

If Deckard had been in less pain and had been thinking more clearly, he would have asked to go with, but he wasn’t.

“Gonna go shower,” he grunted, gingerly walking inside.

If he would have turned around, he would have seen the look of concern on Luke’s face, but he was just focused on getting inside without stumbling. The pain was a constant wave, and he was starting to have double vision.

In the shower, Deckard let the blood swirl down the drain. His wound was still bleeding, though it still wasn’t horrible. He struggled to wash everything with the broken arm and ribs, but he managed, eventually getting out and pulling on some clean clothes. After exiting the bathroom, he made his way down the hall towards his room.

“Good morning!” Sam greeted him cheerfully, rushing towards him and pulling him into a tight hug.

Deckard’s knees nearly gave out as she pushed right into his injured ribs, but he gritted his teeth and dealt with the pain.

“Hi, Sam. I’m just going to go back to my room now.”

He felt bad brushing her off, but he just couldn’t deal with the pain and fuzzy head while trying to interact with Sam. He stumbled off towards his room, faintly registering that he heard Sam calling for her dad and telling him that she thought something was wrong with Deckard.

Deckard didn’t even manage to close the door before he sagged down to the bed, closing his eyes and trying to block everything out. He hadn’t bothered to get under the covers, just laying on the top and trying to focus on breathing. When he heard Luke come into his room, he cracked his eyes open.

“Sam’s pretty worried about you,” he said, sitting on the side of his bed.

“Oh, really?”

“What’s going on, Deck?” Luke said softly, resting his hand gently on Deckard’s head.

“Just a little sore,” Deckard responded, leaning unconsciously into Luke’s touch.

“Is that blood?” Luke asked suddenly, reaching for Deckard’s shirt.

“Oops, am I bleeding on the sheets?”

“I’m not worried about the sheets, doofus. Where are you hurt?”

“Side. Ribs. Arm.” A pause. “Head.”

“You can’t keep keeping this stuff from me!” Luke said, clearly upset.

“Sorry.”

“You better be. Come on, let’s get you to the hospital.”

“No, no hospitals.”

“You have to go. I’ll stay with you the whole time.”

“Promise?”

“I promise, as long as you promise to tell me next time you get hurt.”

“Fine,” Deckard said, working up into a sitting position.

Even if he didn’t want to go, he wanted to make Luke happy. He would go to the ends of the earth to make Luke happy, and as long as Luke stayed with him, he would get through this. As they slowly made their way to the car, Deckard made a silent promise to himself that he would try to be better about not keeping things from Luke. If they were going to do this, he was going to do it right.


	25. Humiliation

Luke was a tough guy. He had huge muscles, fierce stares, and strong one-liners. However, he was not just a tough guy. He was also a sweet and sensitive person, and many people absolutely adored him. He had a lot of feelings, and sometimes, he felt like people just didn’t understand that. The people who did matter to him understood that, and that was what was most important.

Sam, Deckard, Hattie, and Locke were all such an important part of his life, and he knew that the feeling was mutual. As long as he had them, he knew that things would end up being okay. When he was in precarious situations, he could count on them to help him out, and he would do the same for any of them. Of course, he liked it better when none of them were in mortal peril, but with that group, all bets were off.

It was his favorite when he was able to work with Deckard, and working with Hattie was up there as well, but unfortunately, he still had to work with others or by himself sometimes. Those were the missions he felt a lot less secure during. Knowing that someone skilled had your back was extremely comforting, even in horrid situations. It made everything that much easier, especially when the work could be divided up between competent people.

On this particular mission, Luke was paired with a rookie. He was pretty new, but Luke thought he had promise. They were tasked with investigating a string of passport frauds in a human trafficking ring. It was supposed to be a good beginning mission for someone who was just starting to take on more responsibility paired with someone with a lot of experience. A mission like that offered a great deal of experience, and it would be important for any agent to work a case like that. As they approached the door to ask the suspects some questions, Luke looked at Eddie, the newer agent.

“Just keep your cool and watch your back. I’ll be watching your back, too.”

“Thanks, man,” Eddie said, taking a deep breath.

They knocked on the door, waiting for anyone to open the door. When it finally opened, an older man with many missing teeth invited them in. Just as they stepped in, Luke was hit in the back of the head and knocked out. The last thing that registered before everything went black was that his partner had been taken down as well.

Groaning, Luke opened his eyes. He was being held up by manacles on his wrists and ankles, strung up for everyone to see. He looked around frantically for his partner, feeling both relief and dread when he saw Eddie similarly chained up. It was a relief that nothing worse had happened to his partner, but it also meant that they were both caught up in a sticky situation. Eddie’s eyes were still closed, so Luke took the time to survey the scene.

There were multiple people scattered around the room, each focused on a different task, but the message was clear. They wouldn’t be able to get out easily. One of the women caught Luke’s eye and gave him a sinister smile. She walked over to Luke and ran a finger down his face. He twisted his head away, not wanting to be anywhere close to any of these people. Eddie’s chains started rattling, and both Luke and the woman turned to look at him. Suddenly, all eyes in the room were on the two of them.

“Agents,” a man dressed in a suit said, walking over to the two of them.

“What do you want? Kidnapping an agent is a crime,” Eddie said, and Luke had to admit that he was impressed by his bravery.

“Hmm, too bad they’ll never know what happened to you. Shame your partner couldn’t even protect you,” the man said, and humiliation flooded through Luke.

He should have been able to protect Eddie. After all, he was the senior agent. He should have been more careful with the whole situation, though, how could he have known? If anything happened to the younger agent, Luke would blame himself. He took his job and the safety of his fellow agents very seriously.

“Hey!” Luke cut in, trying to get his attention off of his partner.

“And you, Luke Hobbs. You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into,” the well-dressed man said, walking over to him. “You’ll regret the day you ever got involved with the Shaw family. I’ll make you pay for everything they have done,” he whispered, close enough that no one else could hear his words.

“What does that have anything to do with this?” Luke asked, trying to mask the shock in his voice.

“Let’s just say it’s personal. And now that I have one of their favorite toys, I’ll be able to make them pay. It’s not just you that’s going to hurt.”

Luke tried to figure out exactly how this person wanted to hurt the Shaws with him. It was really no secret in all the super-secret communities that Luke, Deckard, and Hattie had saved the world together previously, so maybe that is how the man knew. There was no way that the man could know that he and Deckard were together, since they hadn’t really told anyone and they were pretty low-key. If the man knew, Luke wasn’t sure what he would do. It probably wouldn’t be pretty.

The man pulled back his arm and smacked Luke across the face, hard, but quickly turned and left the room after. The rest of the men stayed in the room, mostly keeping to themselves. Every once in a while, when they seemed to get bored, one or two men would come over and rough Luke and Eddie up. Luke felt guilty about dragging Eddie into this whole mess, as it seemed that is was about him and the Shaws. At least their office knew who they were going to interrogate, so it shouldn’t take too long for them to track them down. Of course, as soon as Luke had that thought, the man with the suit came back.

“Time to leave,” he said, motioning to two other men.

The men stepped forward, each holding a syringe that they then stuck into the agents. Luke tried to get away from the syringe, but since he was chained up, it was impossible. Blinking as his vision grew blurry and dim, Luke fought against the feeling of dread creeping through his body. If they were moved, it would be harder to track them down. Maybe Deckard would come for them. That thought was the last thing that crossed his mind before his mind went dark.

As consciousness returned to him, Luke tried to clear his fuzzy vision. After blinking a few times, it was clear that they weren’t in any better situation than they had been in before they moved. Actually, it was probably worse, since Luke couldn’t see Eddie anywhere. That didn’t necessarily mean that anything bad had happened to him, but it wasn’t the best sign.

It was a long day filled with the same stuff. The people would leave him alone for a while, then come over and throw a couple of hard punches. It got really old really quickly, but Luke held onto hope that someone would come rescue them soon. He tried asking about Eddie a couple times, but the men simply ignored him every time he asked. All he could do was keep on surviving.

After a few days of the same routine, something changed. Luke could feel blood dripping down his face but couldn’t do anything about it due to his wrists being shackled. They were very sore as well, and Luke couldn’t wait to get them out of the chains. He was just about to start his daily questions about where Eddie was when the lights flickered out. The men in the room started talking loudly, seeming thrown off by the disturbance. Luke heard a bunch of grunting and bodies falling before the lights turned back on. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw who was standing there.

“You’re messing with the wrong family,” Deckard said, standing in the middle of the room, foot on the throat of one of the men.

“Deck!” Luke exclaimed.

“You ready to get out of here?” Deckard asked, walking over to Luke and releasing all of the locks.

Luke rubbed his bruised wrists, very glad to be out of the shackles. They ran out of the room, ready to bash some more people. As they were making their way down the hall, they ran into Eddie and Owen. Eddie looked to be in the same shape as Luke was, small cuts and bruises on all visible skin. Luke gave Owen an appraising look, still not completely trusting the man. Sure, he was Deckard’s brother and he had done good when he helped Deckard save baby Brian, but he still hadn’t done enough to completely redeem himself in Luke’s mind.

“Eddie. You good?” Luke asked, giving him a careful look.

“Yeah, all good. How are you doing? Who are these people?”

“Glad we’re about to get out of here. These guys are the ones who are gonna help us get out of here.”

Eddie wisely stopped asking questions, looking like he was ready to focus on getting home. The Shaws led them down the hallway towards the exit, but stopped just before they exited. It was clear in a second why they stopped, as Hattie joined them, pushing the guy in the suit along. He was the one in handcuffs, and Luke let out a huff of laughter when he saw the expression on his face. Oh, how the tables had turned.

“You don’t mess with our family,” she hissed into his ear, pulling him along roughly.

Luke was so glad that the Shaws were there, and he almost expected to see their mother around the corner. The Shaws led him, Eddie, and the bad guy out of the building and into the waiting transportation.

“Thanks for coming to get us,” Luke said to Deckard when he had gotten them apart from the others.

“Nobody messes with my family,” Deckard responded, and Luke felt a wave of happiness. Knowing that Deckard considered him part of his family. Deckard would go to the end of the Earth for his family, and Luke would do the same. They were family, and nothing could break that bond.


	26. Abandoned

Deckard felt like he had been hit by a train. He opened his eyes sluggishly, and the only thing that kept him from flat out panicking was his years of training. He had no idea where he was or how he got there, but judging on how he was feeling, he would bet that he hadn’t gone easily. His head felt fuzzy, and his thoughts felt slow and muddled. What had they given him?

Whatever they had given him, it was definitely affecting his reaction time. Deckard almost didn’t register that someone had walked into the room until he was standing right in front of him. The man didn’t bother speaking to him, instead punching Deckard in the abdomen over and over. When the man finally seemed to lose interest in pummeling Deckard, he pulled out a syringe and injecting Deckard with an unknown substance. Deckard’s eyes grew heavy, and he was unable to fight the pull of the drug.

When he opened his eyes again, there were already people in the room, seemingly waiting for him to awaken. He gave a weak rattle to the chains holding him, but whatever they had given him was really limiting his strength and thinking abilities. No one had bothered to tell him why he was there, and it wasn’t like they were asking him any questions. Why was he there? Deckard’s head was too fuzzy to think about it much, so he settled for cautiously watching the people around him. None of them were talking, even to each other, so Deckard wasn’t able to figure out what they were going to do next. One of the people walked forward, staring straight into Deckard’s eyes. He stared back, narrowing his eyes before spitting in the man’s face. It served him right for getting that close.

“You’ll pay for that, bastard,” the man said, finally breaking the silence.

They flipped Deckard around so that his back was facing everyone in the room, which made Deckard extremely uneasy. He hated not being able to see what was coming at him, and it was never wise to turn one’s back on the enemy, even if he had no choice in the matter. He heard some rustling behind him, but wasn’t able to figure out what it was that the men were preparing.

When Deckard heard and then felt a lash land on his back, he tensed up. Forget just beating him up- these people were going for actual torture tactics. After a while, Deckard lost count of how many lashes, instead focusing on breathing through the pain. It felt like forever, but it eventually stopped, and this time, they didn’t give him anything to make him pass out. He guessed that they wanted him to feel the full force of the pain.

Deckard wasn’t completely sure if there was anyone left in the room with him anymore. They hadn’t bothered to turn him around after they had finished with him, so all he could see was the concrete wall in front of him. After a few minutes of silence, an unexpected crack resounded, landing another lash on Deckard’s back. It seemed like they didn’t want him to be able to relax, landing blows just when he thought he was safe for a bit. Deckard tensed, but did not make a sound. He waited for more, and sure enough, it took a few minutes, but another two lashes caused fire to spread across his back.

After a few more cycles of this, followed by a long, long wait, Deckard felt the needed pierce his skin again, and everything swum in his vision. The pain had been constant, though it had faded from a sharp pain to a constant, burning ache. He had been hoping that whatever they were giving him would help the pain fade if it knocked him out again, but he wasn’t so lucky. Whatever this was hadn’t given him any relief, instead making the world twist and warp more than before. He couldn’t form any coherent thoughts, and even when the people came back in, he had no idea what they were doing to him. All he could feel was a new, constant stream of pain.

Eventually, Deckard passed out, letting his eyes slip closed and sinking into the welcome darkness. When he came to, he still felt completely out of it. His head was spinning faster than ever, and the world seemed to be going in and out of focus. He was still facing the wall, but he looked to his right and left, trying to see if anyone would be hurting him again soon. He couldn’t see anyone, but he froze completely when he heard a familiar voice.

“Well, well, look at this. Who do we have here but Deckard Shaw?”

This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. Deckard couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t control the shaking that was suddenly overcoming his whole body. The drugs were preventing him from processing anything logically, and all he could do was hold on for dear life.

“Look at you. Do you see what happens when you turn against me? You’re all alone. No one loves you and no one is coming for you. Your so-called friends and family? They’ve abandoned you.”

“Brixton,” Deckard choked out, drawing in a ragged breath.

Brixton was right. He was too terrible of a person for anyone to care for him, let alone love. How could he have ever thought otherwise? His head was too messed up to think any more deeply about anything. All he knew was that Brixton was behind him, even if he couldn’t see him. He felt Brixton’s presence come up close behind him, brushing against him as he whispered in his ear.

“You need me. Join me, and I can make all of this stop.”

“Never.”

Even if Brixton spoke the truth, Deckard could never live with himself if he joined that evil. If no one else loved him in the entire world, he didn’t care. He had lived like that before, and he could live like that again. He would never turn. Suddenly, Brixton was gone as quickly as he had appeared, and the men were back. After another round of torture and another dose of whatever it was that was messing his head up, Deckard was alone again.

His body was almost at its limit. He was still shaking and felt absolutely terrible. It was getting harder and harder to keep track of time and reality. Why was he still there? If the reason he had been taken in the first place was to get him to work with Brixton and Eteon, he would have thought that it was clear that he wouldn’t ever join them. He didn’t know how long passed before he felt another presence in the room.

“Have you given any more thought to us?” Brixton’s voice broke the silence.

“There is no us. You don’t matter. I’ll never join you,” Deckard spit out, voice much weaker than he had hoped.

“I’m the only one who ever cared about you, and no one else will ever come close to me. You won’t love anyone like you loved me,” Brixton said, mouth moving along Deckard’s neck. He tried to twist away, but he was too weak.

“Liar. Luke is one hundred times the man you ever were. I love him.”

Brixton’s laugh filled the room, giving Deckard chills. It filled him with dread, and he wondered if he would ever leave that place alive. If it were up to Brixton, he didn’t know what would come of him. Deckard closed his eyes, trying to clear the fuzziness from his head and focus his mind. His eyes snapped open when he heard a commotion from the hallway. Were they coming back to torture him more?

“Shit,” was the first in a string of colorful words coming from behind him.

It sounded like Luke, but how could it be? He couldn’t be sure, since he didn’t know how he got there, but he didn’t think anyone knew where he was. Plus, like Brixton said, no one would ever love him enough to come rescue him. He wasn’t worth it.

“Hey, Deckard,” large hands cupped his face. “Oh, Decks. What happened to you?”

Deckard panicked. Luke couldn’t actually be here, could he?

“Where’s Brixton?”

“Brixton? Brixton’s gone. We saw him fall a long time ago. He won’t bother us again.”

“No, he’s here,” Deckard protested weakly. “He was just here before you came in.”

“No one is here, and I didn’t see anyone leave. He’s not real.”

Deckard sucked in another shaky breath. Was it possible? He had felt so real.

“How do I know you’re real?”

Luke looked deeply into Deckard’s eyes before slowly closing the distance between them, giving Deckard the chance to pull away before capturing his lips in a soft kiss. Deckard melted into the kiss. His brain was still going haywire, but it was telling him to trust Luke. Luke was safe, Luke was real.

“Can we get out of here?” Deckard whispered, leaning his head against Luke’s.

Luke nodded before releasing Deckard from his bonds. Deckard knew that he was fine now that he was with Luke, even if he still hadn’t figured out exactly what was going on. He would be able to do that later. All they had to do now was focus on getting out and getting home, which is exactly what they were going to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @Omnivorous_Reader for some of the inspiration for this chapter!


	27. Ransom

Though her job could be one step beyond challenging, Hattie loved it. She didn’t know of any other job that would let her use her brain and her physical prowess to their full extent. Sure, it was hard and dangerous, but she couldn’t imagine herself doing anything else. Protecting people made it all worth it, especially the innocent people who had the misfortune of getting caught up in things they had no fault in.

Her job was also rarely boring, as she dealt with something new almost every day. She never knew quite what she was walking into when she went to work, which was challenging but also fascinating. She had also earned enough trust back from her government and superiors to get sent on the harder missions again, which made her happy. Some people may say that she had the tendency to throw herself too much into the missions, putting herself at risk. Even after coming back to work, she had ended up in the hospital multiple times with bad injuries. She had recovered well and quickly, but she had also received a couple of lectures about taking care of herself.

One morning, Hattie got a call about perpetrators who had taken a whole building of people hostage. MI6 had gotten involved, and the decision was made to send Hattie and a team in to help take control of the situation. Honestly, hostage situations weren’t exactly Hattie’s area of expertise, but she did her best in every situation she was put in.

When she and her team arrived at the scene, it was clear that things were very tense. They were sent inside the building covertly to try to gather more information. The instructions were to stay completely out of sight and unnoticed. No one told them outright, but Hattie gathered that there was someone important to MI6 and the British government inside, and they were going to try to find a way to get them out without getting hurt.

Hattie had faith in her team, but it was clear that this was an emotionally charged situation which could easily turn dangerous in the blink of an eye. She and her team successfully infiltrated the building and put themselves in a good position to observe and report what was going on. After a while of observing the situation, one of the criminals got too close to where Hattie and her team were hiding. They retreated, but not before the man had caught sight of one of them.

“Hey, boss! There’s someone else over here!”

“Who did they send in for you?” a different voice asked, followed by a sharp slapping sound.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” a shaky sounding voice responded.

Hattie looked behind her at her team before turning to the footsteps chasing them.

“What are you doing?” one of her teammates hissed, pausing his retreat.

“Keep going. Tell them everything we learned,” Hattie replied before running back toward the hostages and perpetrators.

She slowed right as the man who had discovered them turned the corner and came face to face with her. As she looked him over, the man took a swing at her. She sidestepped quickly and easily, landing a few blows of her own. She managed to grab his gun, pointing it and her own at him and forcing him to walk back to where they were keeping everyone. There were approximately twenty people in the room, all cowering at the five visible men wielding guns.

“I believe this is yours?” she asked, yanking the man closer to provide a shield for her body.

“Who are you?” a man sneered, immediately pointing his own firearm at them.

“Someone very important. If you want to get out of here, you need me.”

The man paused, clearly pondering her words.

“Say I believe you. How are you going to help us get out?”

“Let the hostages go, and we’ll get a deal worked out for you.”

“Let them go? Do you think I’m stupid?”

Hattie rolled her eyes, barely keeping her mouth shut. In reality, yes, she definitely thought the men were stupid, which made them even more dangerous. She scanned the room, looking for the woman that was the real target. When she found her, she wasn’t surprised to see her isolated in a corner of the room, a man standing guard right next to her. Hattie didn’t let her eyes linger or give any sign that she knew that the woman was more important to the others, but she was glad to know exactly where her target was.

“I think that your best bet is to listen to me. Let everyone go so we can work something out. I’m more valuable than all of these people put together.”

Hattie hoped they believed her straight-up lie. There was no way she was more important than these people. In fact, it might solve her bosses and the government a lot of trouble if the criminals just got rid of her, but the only thought running through her mind was that she needed to try to save these people. She was their best bet at this point, and she would do the best she could in the circumstances.

“Get me a line to the outside,” the man barked to one of the others.

He was clearly in charge, though Hattie didn’t think that he seemed very organized. The man walked away when the line was established, not letting Hattie hear anything that was being discussed. When he came back, he miraculously let all of the hostages but Hattie and the woman go. Hattie was glad that so many of the people had been able to get out of danger, but it was unfortunate that her main mark hadn’t been released.

“You better hope your friends come through on their promises,” the man said, staring at Hattie.

She released the man she had been holding, but didn’t let go of the guns.

“What about her?” Hattie asked, motioning to the woman.

“She’s special, like you. We’re going to use both of you to get out of here. They’ll give us a good ransom for the two of you. Now, give me the guns, or you’re never going to get out of here.”

Hattie looked around to see some of the others aiming their guns at her. She carefully lowered the guns to the ground, raising her hands in the air. Someone came over, quickly removing the guns from anywhere she could get to them. She hated being at a disadvantage, and even though she could fight her way out if she was alone, she needed to think of the safety of the other woman.

“To be honest, we’ll see if we let you go. Maybe we’ll take you along with us. You’re too pretty to go to waste,” the man whispered, getting close to Hattie.

Hattie suppressed a shudder, moving quickly away from the man. She didn’t want to think about that possibility, so she walked over to where the woman was. The men watched her closely but didn’t stop her.

“Are you okay?” Hattie asked, crouching down to the woman’s level.

“I’m okay. It was very brave of you to rescue everyone.”

“Well, not everyone. Listen, I want you to be ready in case anything happens,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper.

“I’ll be ready. These guys need to pay.”

Hattie was impressed at the woman’s guts. Even though she was clearly unsettled by the situation, she was keeping a calm head. It seemed like she would be ready to go if the opportunity arose. Hattie sat down next to her, studying the room and the situation. Before too long, all of the lights in the room flipped off, leaving barely any light. Having been prepared for anything, Hattie grabbed the woman’s hand and pulled her along and pushing her out of the room.

“Can you find the exit?”

“I think so,” the woman said. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. Just make sure you get to safety.”

She turned and rushed back into the room, immediately taking on the first man she saw. She managed to disarm him, taking his gun and holding it firmly. She knocked him out before moving onto her next target. As she swiftly moved through the room, she engaged in a fight with one of the bigger men. They exchanged blows, both getting a few good hits in. Hattie locked her legs around the man’s neck, trying to cut off his air supply. Just as it looked like she was succeeding, the man managed to get a shot off, hitting Hattie in the side. She grunted in pain, legs loosening without her position. The man managed to wiggle free, but before he could shoot her again, a shot came from behind her, taking him down.

“Need some help?”

“Luke! What are you doing here?”

“Government request, I guess. You okay?”

“It’ll be fine. Let’s just take care of the others so we can get out of here.”

Other armed members of her team were in the process of swarming the room and securing the bad guys. Hattie breathed a sigh of relief, clutching her side. It probably needed to be looked at sooner than later, but it would hold for a bit.

“Did that woman make it out?”

“She’s totally fine, and so are all the hostages you traded yourself for. I think your brother would want me to have a little chat with you about not doing stupid things like that,” Luke said, narrowing his eyes at her.

“I didn’t have a choice!”

“I know. Just make sure you tell Deckard I tried next time you talk to him.”

“I will. Now can we get out of here?”

“Only if you promise to get that looked at right away.”

Hattie sighed but nodded. She knew it would have to be looked at anyways, especially if she was under the watch of Luke. He had really taken to acting just like another brother to her, and he was just as over-protective as her actual brothers.

“Can you not mention this to Deck?”

“Hmm, can’t do that, but maybe I’ll leave out a couple of the more reckless details.”

Knowing that the offer was the best she would get, she agreed quickly. She didn’t need Deckard on her back, getting mad at her for doing her job. Now all she could do was hope that her bosses weren’t mad at how things went down. She walked out of the building with Luke, glad that she had another brother to watch her back.


	28. Beaten

No matter how skilled Deckard Shaw was, there were times where his skills were neutralized. Being completely surrounded by hired thugs was one of those times. He threw himself into the fight, but he was unable to keep himself from getting pummeled. He was able to take down a fair number before getting knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly. Deckard grabbed the leg of one of the men kicking him and pulled him down, using the leverage to pop back up. His ribs were screaming, but he pushed through.

Intent on finishing the job, Deckard used his training to cut through the remaining men. Now that there were less men to focus on, he was able to be much more effective, even with how injured he was. He had taken a good number of punches to the face, which was proving annoying, as his left eye was rapidly swelling shut. His knuckles were burning from the amount of punches he had thrown, but it was necessary. If he had anything to say about it, this fight would be over soon.

As he took the rest of the thugs out, Deckard let himself slump to the ground for a second to try to catch his breath. He had really gotten the stuffing beat out of him. He knew that he needed to get out of the area. If the men were able to find him there earlier, whoever sent them would undoubtedly send more when the first group failed to report back. Wincing as he took a deep breath, Deckard knew that he would have to be careful, as he didn’t want one of his broken ribs to shift and hurt him further.

Getting into his car, Deckard sped off to the first place he thought of. There was no chance of him going to a hospital, though he could probably use one. Luckily, the drive wasn’t too far, and Deckard parked and stumbled up the driveway, knocking on the door. He was starting to feel a little woozy and slid down the door, resting his head against the doorframe.

“Deckard? What the hell happened?”

If he stopped to think about it, Deckard was lucky that Sam hadn’t been the one to open the door. He wouldn’t want to scare her with his condition, even if she was a tough girl. His one eye was completely swollen shut, his lip was split open, and he was sure that he had various cuts and bruises blooming over the rest of his visible skin.

“You look like shit,” Luke continued.

“Feel like it too,” Deckard said, struggling to his feet.

Luke grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet. The motion jarred Deckard’s injured ribs, and he grimaced. Luke seemed to notice, apologizing and trying to adjust his grip. Since Deckard was hurt pretty much everywhere, the adjustment didn’t do much to help, though he fought to keep a neutral expression, not wanting Luke to see that it hadn’t helped.

“Sit down,” Luke said, guiding Deckard to the couch. “Is anything really bad?”

“Nah,” Deckard lied, though by the look Luke gave him, it wasn’t believed for a second.

Luke began stripping off Deckard’s shirt, making a face when he saw Deckard’s torso. Deckard looked down and had to admit that it was pretty impressive. The bruises were already showing up against his pale skin, looking bad. Luke carefully ran his fingers around Deckard’s ribs, pulling back when Deckard hissed.

“I wish you would stop getting hurt like this.”

“It’s part of the job, you know that.”

“I know, but do you know how much it tears me up inside? Seeing you strung out and tortured was horrible. I hate seeing you in so much pain.”

“It’s not like I try to put myself in these situations. Besides, this isn’t anything like the last time. I took out all the goons, and no one tortured me. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“That’s the thing. I do worry about you because I care about you. I want you to share how you feel and share the highs and lows of your life. As long as we’re together, I’ll be happy.”

Deckard gave Luke a look, wondering how he should respond. He felt the same way, but he was not as eloquent when it came to sharing his feelings. Deckard grabbed Luke’s hand from where it was still searching for injuries, stilling it.

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Happy? With me?”

“Of course. Are you?”

“I’ve never been happier. I’m so glad that I found you and that you and Sam have accepted me into your family. Where is she?”

“She’s at a friend’s house, but don’t try to change the subject. I know it’s impossible sometimes, but will you please try to be more careful? Think about Sam. Do you have any idea how crushed she would be if something happened to you? And how devastated I would be?”

Deckard swallowed hard at the expression on Luke’s face. It was an ultimate guilt trip, and Deckard didn’t have any choice but to agree to be more careful. Honestly, he couldn’t have done anything differently the last few times he had been injured, but he could be reckless, just like the rest of his family. He thought back to how he felt when Hattie was putting herself in danger and how he hated the feeling of helplessness and dread that something might happen to her.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily. I’ll be careful. Now can you please stop poking me?”

Luke gave him a smile, clearly happy that his words had made some sort of impact. He pulled his hands away, though it didn’t really help with Deckard’s pain. It hurt when he breathed, when he moved, when he did anything. Luke walked away and returned with some Tylenol.

“I know it’s not much, but here,” he said, handing the pills and a glass of water to Deckard.

Deckard swallowed them quickly and sat back further on the couch, pulling Luke down to sit next to him. He braced himself against Luke, using his solid muscle as an anchor to not move as much, hoping that would help keep the pain to a minimum. Luke laughed, settling in carefully next to Deckard. Deckard had never let himself imagine a life in the future, but he was starting to. If this was what his future looked like, being with Luke and Sam, he was content. For the first time, he was excited and hopeful for the future.


	29. Numb

Oh, Luke was going to be upset. Deckard had promised to try to be safer and less reckless, and then what happened? He ended up in the middle of a freezing cold river, that’s what happened. He didn’t know how he was going to make it out of this situation unscathed, even if he wasn’t in physical harm. If he made it out safe, Deckard was sure that Luke was going to make sure he heard about how displeased he was.

How had he ended up in the river? Well, he had been chasing a bad guy who had run out of the building, down a dock, and into a boat. He had taken off on said boat, but not before Deckard had jumped onto the boat. A firefight had ensued, and before too long, a stray bullet hit just the wrong place, and the boat exploded. Deckard managed to jump off of the boat right before the explosion, diving into the freezing water.

Flaming debris plunged into the water around him. One piece of metal sliced his leg, but he managed to keep underwater until everything seemed to have settled. He took a deep breath when he surfaced, examining the scene. The flaming boat was floating a short distance from him, and he was in the middle of a very wide river. The river was ice-cold, and Deckard started gasping uncontrollably. He was breathing very fast and couldn’t control the shaking of his body. He stayed as still as possible for an excruciating long few minutes before he started breathing more normally.

Knowing that he needed to get out of the water, Deckard started swimming to the riverbank. With his injured leg, it was taking him much longer than usual, which was not good, given the temperature of the water. It took him almost eight minutes to reach the side of the river due to his injury. He was starting to feel extremely weak at the end of the swim, so he was glad to get out of the water. He didn’t know how much longer he would have managed to swim.

As he crawled onto the shore, he was still shivering uncontrollably. He was feeling pretty sleepy, but he knew that he couldn’t stay out in the cold for much longer. Just because he was out of the water didn’t mean that he was safe from the effects of being in the water so long. He didn’t know where he could go, but he knew he had to go somewhere. As he was stumbling along the river, he heard someone calling his name. The voice got closer and closer, and eventually, Deckard saw Luke running towards him.

“Luke? What are you doing here?”

“I was on the mission with you, don’t you remember? What happened? I saw an explosion on the water.”

“You were? Oh, right,” Deckard said, trying to remember what mission they had been on. He was a little confused.

“You were on the boat, weren’t you?” Luke asked, getting closer to him.

Deckard nodded, but he didn’t know if Luke could see it over the violent shivering of his whole body. Luke pulled Deckard’s body close to his, enclosing it in a bear hug. Deckard was feeling numb, especially in his extremities.

“Jesus, you’re freezing,” Luke whispered, holding him close. “We need to get you warmed up.”

“Warm sounds good. Let’s do that.”

“What happened to being more careful?” Luke asked, but there was no real malice behind his words.

“I had to stop him,” Deckard chattered, dragging his injured leg behind them as they walked.

Luckily, Luke had driven over to check out the explosion, and he turned the heat up all the way before pulling Deckard into the back seat with him. He dug around next to him, pulling out a blanket and extra set of clothes that he always kept for emergencies, having Deckard strip down. He dried off before getting dressed in Luke’s extra clothes, which were pretty huge on him. If he hadn’t been freezing, he would have found the situation funny. Luke wrapped his injured leg in an extra t-shirt tightly before examining his hands, trying to warm them in his own. Deckard’s fingers were blue, and he knew he needed to get warm soon.

After he was all settled in the dry clothes, Luke wrapped his arms around him, pulling the blanket around both of them. Deckard could tell that Luke had to be warmer than comfortable, but the man didn’t complain at all. He brushed his freezing lips up against Luke’s warm ones, thanking him for coming to rescue him. Luke reciprocated the kiss deeply, pulling Deckard closer to him. After a few minutes, Luke moved away.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“A little,” Deckard said, still chattering away.

“I think we need to get closer to help,” Luke said, looking down at the freezing and injured Deckard.

Deckard didn’t want Luke to move away from him.

“I don’t need help, I need you.”

“I’ll be right here, but I need to make sure that you’re okay.”

“No,” Deckard practically whined, but Luke just gave him an extra hug before pulling away, wrapping the blanket more firmly around him.

The heat of the car was cranked up all the way, and the blanket was helping as well. The loss of Luke was bad, but Deckard knew that he was still in the car with him. He wasn’t sure why Luke was so set on getting help, but he knew Luke would only ever do what was helpful for them.

“Yes, princess, it’ll be fine. Even though you’re out of the water, your temperature might drop more, so we have to be ready, just in case.”

“Fine. But no hospital.”

“We’ll try to get you warmed up without one,” Luke sighed.

Deckard knew that if it was just his decision, Luke would drive him to the hospital straight away to make sure that he was fine and would get warmed up safely, but for Deckard’s sake, he tried to make Deckard feel as comfortable as possible. He was so lucky that Luke was there for him, and he wasn’t just talking about rescuing him from the cold. Deckard knew how lucky he was to have Luke in his life, and thanked his lucky stars that he was part of his life.

“Thank you.”


	30. Recovery

As much as Luke gave Deckard a hard time about always getting hurt, he understood that there wasn’t always a way to prevent that. After all, Luke was put in similar situations frequently, and he didn’t always come out unscathed. It did seem that Deckard was usually the one getting more seriously injured, and Luke attributed that to the fact that Deckard could be a little more reckless and less caring about his own safety. That was what made Luke upset about Deckard always getting injured. Deckard had promised to try to be more careful, and for the most part, he had done so.

This time, it was Luke that had gotten hurt. He was laying in a hospital bed, recovering from surgery. It hadn’t been his fault, but he had gotten shot multiple times, including twice in his knee. The main part of the surgery had been to help with his knee. He knew that there would be a long road to recovery, but it would be worth it.

“Daddy!”

Luke braced himself as he saw Sam racing towards him out of the corner of his eye. She clung to him, squeezing tight. Luke was glad that his injuries weren’t where she was hugging, as that would have hurt a lot. Following closely behind Sam was Deckard, who also came over and pressed a short kiss to Luke’s head.

“What happened to being more careful?” Deckard asked with a soft smile, quoting what Luke had said to him last time he had gotten hurt.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Luke replied, rolling his eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Deckard asked, settling into a chair at the side of Luke’s bed.

“Fine, fine. Nothing a few more hugs can’t fix,” he said, pulling Sam closer.

Sam seemed to take that responsibility very seriously, wrapping her arms around him again. Luke was in a little bit of pain, but whatever they had given him for pain after surgery seemed to still be working pretty well. He didn’t like to take more than he absolutely needed for pain medication, especially since he liked his head to be as clear as possible at all times. He never knew when he would need to fight or think his way out of a situation. Having Deckard there made him feel better, since he knew Deckard could protect all of them, but he still liked to be ready all the time.

The medication seemed to still have a hold on him, as he easily slipped off to sleep cuddling with Sam. He felt safe with Deckard watching over the two of them. He woke when Sam moved away, and she apologized. Sam had school the next morning, so Deckard was taking her home so she would be ready in the morning.

After a few days in the hospital, working hard on regaining his mobility, Luke was released home. Deckard was tasked with staying with him and Sam so everything would go smoothly. Luke was progressing well, but he still wasn’t able to bring Sam everywhere she needed, and instead of asking friends for help, Deckard had offered to stick around for a while to help. He was usually around the house when he wasn’t working anyways, so it made a lot of sense.

Deckard also helped drive Luke to his physical therapy appointments and worked out at the same time Luke was doing his strengthening exercises. Having someone to help push Luke was very helpful, and anyone who had worked with Luke and Deckard together would attest to the fact that they pushed each other to the limit, neither wanting to be bested by the other. Luke’s recovery was speeding along, and even the doctors and physical therapists were impressed at his speed and dedication.

Sam helped in her own way, making sure that she offered encouragement and trying to make sure she had everything organized even more than usual. Luke sometimes worried that she was growing up too fast, especially with his line of work, but he just tried to make sure that she knew that she didn’t have to handle everything by herself. He also made sure to take her out for ice cream and do other things that she liked to let her act more like a kid. She had taken to Deckard being part of the family so well, and that did seem to help a lot. Deckard had integrated into their life virtually seamlessly, and he had done so much for both of them.

Even with everything going so well, Luke hated being sidelined because of his injury. He knew that there were so many things he could be doing in the field. The bad guys weren’t going to take a break just because Luke was injured, and Deckard was out of commission too, as he was helping to look after Luke during the recovery period. He knew that there were others out there helping to keep the bad guys at bay, but that didn’t mean that Luke didn’t wish that he was out there too.

Day after long day, Luke focused on his health and his family. He had been injured before and knew the drill, but this time seemed easier. Deckard was there to support him in everything he did, and even Sam helped him with some of the physical therapy exercises. All of their help and understanding made Luke so happy, and it just inspired him more to work towards recovery.

One bright afternoon, Luke and Sam went out to lunch. Luke felt like he hadn’t been able to spend quite as much one-on-one time with Sam recently, and he wanted to make up for that. They got a booth at their usual diner, and though Luke didn’t order as much food as he would for a cheat day, he still ordered pancakes, as did Sam. As they waited for their food to come, Luke asked Sam about school.

“It’s good,” Sam said, sipping on her smoothie.

“Your solar system diorama was world class. And I’d know, since I’ve worked with some pretty good astronomers,” Luke said, giving her a fist bump.

“Thanks! Deck helped me with it right after you got hurt.”

Luke felt a little sad that he hadn’t been able to be there for her, but it was so good to hear that Deckard had been there to help when he couldn’t be. Even with so much change in Sam’s life, she was always so solid, and her teachers had nothing but glowing reviews about her as a person and her performance in school.

“He’s pretty great, huh?” Luke asked, testing the waters.

He realized that he hadn’t actually talked to Sam about Deckard and how he fit into their lives. Sam had always seemed to like Deckard, so he didn’t think there would be a problem, but it was very important to Luke to have an open line of communication with his daughter. Sam was the first priority in his life, and nothing would change that, but he was really hoping that Sam was okay with Deckard being in their life.

“Are you going to have the talk with me?

“The talk?”

“Yeah, like, ‘I really like Deckard, and he’s going to be living with us now’.”

“Umm…”

“Because you don’t have to. I love Deckard, and I know you do too. It’s really cool that he’s around more.”

Well, that was a lot easier than he had thought. Sam had always been so perceptive, and Luke had to remember that. Luckily, it seemed to work out in his favor this time, but it was really difficult to get things past her, and he had the feeling that it was just going to get harder as she got older.

“Really? Because if you aren’t, that’s okay. I want to make sure you can always tell me how you are feeling.”

“Really. I’m glad you’re happy.”

“Okay,” Luke said, getting interrupted by the arrival of their pancakes.

“Not a cheat day?” the waitress asked with a smile.

“Not today. I’ll be back for the next one, though,” Luke responded, smiling back at the waitress and winking at Sam.

Both Luke and Sam dug into their food, enjoying in a comfortable silence. Sam was so easy to make happy, and Luke was so lucky to have her. Deckard was also so good with her, but he wasn’t sure if that was because Deckard was weirdly good with kids or if it was just impossible to not get along with Sam. It was probably a mix of both, if he thought about it.

After they finished lunch, Luke took her to the beach. They took a leisurely stroll along the water’s edge, Luke being careful to not twist his knee and mess up his recovery. Sam looked so happy, running ahead and then back to him, laughing at the ocean spray on her face. Luke loved seeing her so free. He pulled out his phone and snapped a quick picture of her running towards him and laughing. This would be a memory he treasured for a long time.

“Having fun?”

“Yes! Can we get ice cream?”

Luke gave her the eyebrow, but he couldn’t resist her sweet request. He sent the picture he had just taken to Deckard before walking to the nearby ice cream place with Sam. He and Sam both got ice cream cones, sitting on a nearby bench and watching the ocean crash against the shore. As he sat there happily, his phone dinged with a message. The reply was simple, just a heart emoji, but Luke thought it captured his feelings about the moment perfectly. He was so lucky to have such a wonderful daughter.


	31. Embrace

Luke couldn’t believe how much his life had changed over the last year or so. He would say that his life was vastly improved from before, even though he had loved it before. He had his family back and had gained so many new things as well. Being able to work with Deckard and Hattie made things so much better, and being able to come home to Deckard and Sam was beyond incredible.

Even though Deckard wasn’t always great at expressing how he was feeling, Luke knew Deckard felt similarly. Deckard had also regained his family, as well as his reputation, and he had gained his own small family in Luke and Sam. Luke knew that he would go to the ends of the Earth and further to protect them, and he had never felt safer. Knowing that someone else was looking out for Sam just as much as he was also helped, and Sam and Deckard had their own special bond. Deckard had started driving Sam to and from school, and Sam was always sad when Luke had to take over for a few days.

One morning before Deckard drove Sam to school, he made Luke a special breakfast. Luke was still finishing up his recovery from his knee surgery and working hard on rehabbing the knee, so Deckard was still picking up some of his slack. Deckard hadn’t complained once, and Luke couldn’t express how appreciative he was of Deckard. Especially with the lifestyle they lived, domestic life wasn’t the easiest transition to make, even if it was only for a temporary span of time.

“I have some errands to run today, so I won’t be home before Sam is done with school,” Deckard said, giving Luke a goodbye kiss.

“Okay. I’m just going to be working on some stuff around the house.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard. You aren’t completely healed yet.”

“Yeah, yeah, see you later,” Luke grumbled, not liking being reminded that he wasn’t one hundred percent.

Luke kept himself busy for the rest of the day, and he was glad to see that the clock was counting down quickly to the time when Sam and Deckard would be home. He was getting sick of being more cooped up than normal, so he thought that it might be fun to go do something fun that night. He hadn’t thought too much about what they would do, but he was sure that it would be fun as long as he was with Deckard and Sam.

When he heard car doors slam, he walked over to the door to greet his favorite people. He had a big smile on his face, but it disappeared when he saw who was walking up to the door. Replacing the smile quickly, he greeted them.

“Hattie! I didn’t expect you. Did you have a good day, Sam?”

“It was fun! And I got to see Hattie!”

“Hi, Luke,” Hattie said, moving over to give him a hug. “Sorry for just dropping in, but I’m just filling in for Deck for a little while.”

Luke frowned, wondering where Deckard was and why he hadn’t told him that he was going to be gone for longer than just the school day. That wasn’t Hattie’s fault, so he put on a cheery face again.

“Oh. Do you know where he is?”

“No, sorry,” Hattie said, giving Luke a sympathetic look.

Well, at least Deckard had sent Hattie to pick up Sam, but Luke really wished that Deckard would have talked to him before just disappearing. Sam tugged Hattie inside, excited to see Hattie after so long. As they disappeared into the house, Luke pulled out his phone and tried to call Deckard, but it went straight to voicemail. It wasn’t like he was expecting anything else, but it still stung.

Luke busied himself with preparing dinner while Sam and Hattie were still doing something. Scheming, probably. Well, as long as they didn’t get in too much trouble, he didn’t care. He had been a little worried at first that Hattie would be a bad influence on Sam, but Hattie had proved him wrong quickly. Hattie was a good influence on Sam, encouraging her in all the right ways. He was also glad that Sam had another strong female presence in her life.

Calling them to dinner, Luke made sure that he set a place for Deckard as well, though he was doubtful that he would show up. In their line of work, nothing was ever certain, so Luke had gotten used to making changes at the last minute and being flexible, but it was always easier when communication was involved. Not for the last time, Luke was a little upset that Deckard hadn’t let him know what was happening before he just didn’t come home. He was pretty sure that it was nothing serious, as he had sent Hattie, who didn’t seem to be very worried, but it was definitely a nagging thought at the back of his mind.

Luke started setting out all of the food and scooping his portion onto his plate. Sam quickly took a seat at the table, but Hattie dragged her feet a little. It was a little unusual for Hattie to be anything other than confident, but Luke could understand that things felt a little different with Deckard gone, especially since Hattie could probably tell that Luke was upset by the way it had happened.

“I don’t want to intrude,” she said, running her hand along the back of one of the chairs.

“Don’t be silly. You’re more than welcome any time.”

“Yeah, I want you to stay,” Sam chimed in, giving Hattie puppy dog eyes.

He had made plenty of food for all four of them, so there was no use in letting it go to waste. Plus, Luke did love Hattie’s company. She was so similar yet so different from Deckard, and Luke loved her like a sister. Hattie gave them both a smile and settled into the chair. They started on dinner with mostly comfortable conversation, though it seemed like all of them felt the absence of Deckard. By the time they were almost finished, everyone was laughing. When the door opened, Luke could almost forgive Deckard completely for going missing without explanation. It just felt so wrong for him to not be there when they were all having such a good time.

“Yay, Deck, you’re back!” Sam cheered.

“Of course. Nothing could keep me away.”

“Well, Sam, want to have a girls’ night with me?” Hattie asked.

Sam looked over at Luke excitedly at the same time Luke looked suspiciously at the Shaw siblings. There was no way that this was a coincidence. What were they up to? Getting Sam out of the way? This had to be planned. Sam was now giving him puppy dog eyes.

“Can we, dad?”

“I guess it’s not a school night, so just make sure things don’t get too crazy,” he said, looking pointedly at Hattie, who gave him a ‘who, me?’ look.

“Hmm, looks like we’ll have to find something to do, then,” Deckard said, holding out his hand to Luke.

“I should do the dishes first.”

“Leave the dishes. We’ve got them, right, Sam?”

“Definitely,” Sam said with a curt nod.

“Okay,” Luke said, taking Deckard’s hand and following him out the door and into the car. “So where are we going?”

“I thought we could just take a nice drive.”

Luke gave him a look but didn’t press the issue. When Deckard had a plan, Luke found that it was usually best to follow him and hope for the best. Deckard always researched all the possibilities and had back-up plans for everything, so his plans were usually pretty safe. When things did go wrong with his plans, it was usually only Deckard who paid the price, as he put priority on keeping everyone else safe.

“Where were you today? Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to be gone longer?”

“I did say that I wouldn’t be back before Sam was done with school,” Deckard answered evasively, not saying anything else on the matter.

“Yeah, but that made me think you would be the one bringing her home.”

“Sorry.”

Luke didn’t think he sounded very sorry, but he didn’t press the issue. He looked out the window, wondering where they were headed. There weren’t many cars around, and he couldn’t see anyone walking around the area. Were they going to make some sort of shady deal? Deckard wouldn’t have set something like that up, would he? No, Luke didn’t think he would at a time like this.

It didn’t take much longer before Deckard slowed down and parked. He led Luke along a beach before they reached a secluded section. There was a blanket surrounded by what had to be almost a hundred candles.

“Deckard, what is this?”

“I know you’ve been feeling sort of cooped up recently, so I thought it might be nice to get out for a bit.”

“Deck,” Luke trailed off, giving him a short kiss and embracing him before moving to sit on the blanket with him.

Luke couldn’t believe how sweet this was. He had been feeling very trapped and isolated at home after his injury, so it was so wonderful to get out and have a romantic night with Deckard. They talked for a while about life and family and anything else they could think of before they ended up on their backs, looking at the stars. It was sometimes difficult to see the stars in a big city like LA, but they could see enough to make the night beautiful.

Before long, Deckard moved to straddle Luke, being mindful of his injured leg. He leaned down and captured Luke’s lips in a kiss that soon deepened. Luke was very aware that they were in public, but they were on such a secluded section of beach, he didn’t think anyone would come upon them unless they were actively looking.

They didn’t get much time alone without Sam, and this was such a sweet moment that it quickly turned into more. Luke flipped them over, making Deckard let out a groan. Even if Deckard always insisted that he liked being in charge, Luke knew that nothing drove him crazy like Luke taking charge. They kissed until both of them were breathless, but they knew it was getting late. They needed to be getting home soon, or Hattie would be sending out a search party for them. Luke reluctantly pulled away from Deckard, but not before giving him one last sweet kiss.

“We need to get back,” Luke said.

“No. Hattie can handle things,” Deckard said, trying to pull him back down.

“What, is your plan to stay out here all night?”

“We could.”

Luke gave him a look, and Deckard sighed in resignation.

“Fine.”

Deckard and Luke started picking up all of the stuff on the beach. It didn’t take them long before they had everything packed away and were settled in the car again. Luke leaned over the center console, giving Deckard one last kiss.

“Thank you. This was exactly what I needed.”

“I’m glad. Maybe we can get Hattie to come over and hang out with Sam more so we can do this again.”

“I like that idea,” Luke said, grinning at Deckard.

He didn’t know how he had gotten so lucky, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. He loved his life and his family, and nights like the one he had just had only proved that more to him. Deckard was amazing, and he wasn’t going to let anything happen to what they had. As they drove home, both Luke and Deckard had contented smiles on their faces. This really was the life, and he couldn’t ask for anything more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! Thank you to everyone!


End file.
